With the Earthquakes' two older academy teams taking the past weekend off, the Under-14 squad took center stage.
It was an impressive sight, as usual.
The talented U-14s did what they have been doing all along – score goals and win games.
The young Quakes beat the EBU Bay Oaks 4-0 on Saturday and the De Anza Force 3-0 on Sunday. The team has won 12 of their past 14 games.
Oscar Govea, playing back with the 14s because the 16s were idle, scored two goals against the Oaks. Nathan Arnott and JJ Foe Nuphaus each had one goal. Adonis Diaz and Marco Jacquez scored against De Anza.
Center back Kenny Amaral was outstanding all weekend, and left back Anthony Paoli had a very strong game on Saturday.
“Kenny had a good weekend. He was a rock back there,” said U-14 coach Chris Leitch, the academy technical director.
The news keeps getting better for Govea, who has been called up to the national team for the 2000s, along with Quakes goalkeeper Eric De La Cerda.
Leitch has an abundance of talent in the 14s age group, which should portend a very bright future for the program. A handful of guys are getting consistent looks with national teams.
“I’m very impressed and excited about the young players that I have, especially the 1999s that I had last year, the 2000s, 2001s and the 2002s. It’s promising. We have a lot of good players coming up from the ranks.”
The academy program has gone younger only recently, which enables coaches to teach players the proper fundamentals at a vital stage in their development.
"Because we’re going to have them when they’re much younger, we’re going to have a lot more time to work with them and mold them into the players that we want them to be," Leitch said.
In their drive for the playoffs, the Quakes U-16 and U-18 teams will both face the San Diego Surf on Saturday and Nomads SC on Sunday at Mustang Soccer Complex in Danville. The U18 games will be at 11 a.m., followed by the U16s at 1:30 p.m.
The U-18s (19-7-3, 60 points) are a point out of first place in the Northwest Division of the West Conference, and the U-16s (14-10-5, 47 points) are also holding a playoff position, in third place with four games remaining.
