Watsonville High senior defender Damian Moreno knocked in the game-winning goal for the boys’ soccer team, and the Wildcatz defeated Pajaro Valley, 1-0, in Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division action Feb. 9.
With the win, the ‘Catz secured the Mission Division crown for the 2025-26 campaign, and first league title since winning the Gabilan Division in 2021-22.
“It means a lot of things,” Watsonville senior forward Diego Guillen said. “It’s my first time playing a full high school season.”
Guillen currently has a team-best 21 goals and 19 assists for Watsonville, according to statistics on the Max Preps website.
However, Guillen and the ‘Catz were held scoreless for the first time in a little more than one month following a 0-0 draw against Gonzales on Feb. 5.
“We just have to key a little bit more on finishing,” Watsonville head coach Roland Hedgpeth said. “I think we can. We played a little different game tonight towards the second half, and that got us out of that a little bit.”
Guillen and Moreno each came the closest to breaking the scoring drought for the Wildcatz in what was a tightly contested match against the league runner-up Spartans.
“We had a couple [of chances],” Guillen said. “We were playing too much of their game, the long ball. We weren’t really playing our game. We try to touch a little more in the middle, move around and then send it when we’re in their 30 [yard line marker].”
Moreno redeemed himself this week by scoring the lone goal in Monday night’s victory over cross-town rival Pajaro Valley. The ‘Catz improved to 10-0-1 in league play this season.
Teammate junior forward Justin Alfaro is right behind Guillen with 11 goals this season, while junior forward Jesus Contreras-Barboza has tallied eight goals and four assists.
Watsonville has established itself a sturdy backline with defenders Jose Ortiz, Damien Mora, Elisco Mora, Damian Moreno and Damian Amador leading the way.
Moreno currently has six goals, while Mora has contributed three goals and four assists.
Amador has tallied a pair of goals and two assists for the ‘Catz, who have quite the turnaround after three consecutive seasons without a postseason appearance.
It’s something Hedgpeth is not accustomed to seeing.
In his 54-year coaching career, Hedgpeth was at the helm for 10 of the 12 Central Coast Section championships won by the program.
Watsonville also has 37 league crowns: 17 in the now defunct Monterey Bay League, 17 as members in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic and three in the PCAL, including this season’s Mission Division title run.
The last time they were in the playoffs they won a CCS Open Division championship against Branham in 2022.
Watsonville went as far as the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Division I championship but eventually lost, 3-1, to Whitney of Rocklin.
The ‘Catz finished the 2024-25 campaign with a mediocre overall record of 6-7-6, and placed fourth with a 5-5-2 record in the Mission Division standings.
Hedgpeth said this particular group is much more disciplined under the leadership of team captains Ortiz and Guillen, who like he mentioned is playing a full season of prep soccer for the first time in his young career.
“We almost turned [the team] over to them to do all that stuff and they’re doing a good job,” Hedgpeth said. “[Diego’s] been very positive. Some of these kids try to get out of line and try to do stuff, and he keeps them in line.”
In 2024, Guillen learned to be part of a strict and disciplined culture when he joined Atletico de San Luis’ youth team out of the Liga MX in Mexico. He returned for his senior year in order to graduate with his classmates.
“We wake up at 4 in the morning, it’s a lot of dedication,” Guillen said. “A lot of players that want your spot.”
Guillen is attempting to instill the same mindset with his current ‘Catz teammates, and it’s been working thus far. He’s convinced some players to hit the gym or pitch with him for 5am workouts while showing them how to act like a professional both on and off the field.
“We wanted to bring back what some of us lost four years ago,” Guillen said.
Watsonville (15-1-2, 10-0-1) has a chance to close out the regular season unbeaten in Mission Division play at Emmett M. Geiser Field against Stevenson on Friday. Kickoff is slated for 6:45pm.
