Rea coach late to game, but prompt for win

St. John had a lot of corner kicks, and Brennan Porras kicked many of them hard. With ten minutes gone in the second half, Dmitruk scored on the assist by Breckenridge to tie the game, 2-2.

Just two minutes later, Rea had a free kick and Aldaco netted his second goal of the afternoon, putting Rea up for good, 3-2.

"It was great and we won the championship," Aldaco said.

Liam Shilington and Ethan Momestine worked to control the midfield for St. John, constantly pushing the ball up the field. Bill Crosson played amazing defense all game long, and had an impressive slide tackle on one play.

Play became physical late in the second half with several St. John players getting knocked down. One Rea player was hit in the face by the ball and had to leave the game.

With five minutes left in the game, the referee asked the parents to calm down and explained he was doing his best.

"This ref was bogus the whole time, nothing should have happened the way it did," Eggers said. "We got knocked down and he didn't call anything, [but] we had loads of fun."

Even Rea Principal Gloria Hardy was in attendance to help Rea celebrate. Hardy had her hands full as the boys' third- and fourth-grade team was playing on the nearby field.

"They love the sports, they're passionate about it and they wanted to bring it back home," Hardy said. "It's tough to watch two championship games at the same time; I was going back and forth with my camera."

JASON KORNFELD may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or at jason.kornfeld@latimes.com.