The Chargers were facing division leader Oak Grove, who had beat them in their first meeting, and Leland was without two key players with a third was ailing.

Both Steven Beitashour (Leland's leading scorer) and Ben Meade were sidelined with injuries. Ryan Villalpando, who has been an integral part of the Chargers offense this season, was not at full speed due to a bad back.

"Our guys played huge with a lot of heart," Leland coach Dave Gold said. "The bench stepped up and played very well."

In the end it was more than enough as the Chargers were able to generate the offense they needed in spite of the missing key elements and came away with a 4-1 win.

The first half was tightly contested with neither team able to take control and ended in a 1-1 tie. Mike Dally knocked in Leland's score with an assist from Villalpando.

The Chargers came out and took control in the second half, putting three more scores on the board while their defense shut down the Eagles. Villalpando picked up two more assists, teaming up with Dally again on his second goal and then with Andrew Perez on one of his two goals. Grant Robson also picked up an assist on each of Perez's goals and Roheet Sen was credited with one assist.

Later last week, the Chargers had to settle for a 2-2 tie against Independence in a game that "we totally dominated and should have put away," Gold said. Leland was still without the services of Beitashour and Meade and felt their absence, but took a 2-1 lead late into the second half. At the end of regulation, overtime was added due to injury time and eventually Independence tied it up on a penalty kick in the seventh extra minute.

Both Dally and Perez scored goals with assists from Villalpando and Robson.

Beitashour will be out for another week but should be ready for a tough match against Leigh on Feb. 1. Leland traveled to Overfelt on Jan. 25 and will host Mt. Pleasant on Jan. 27.

With two wins last week, Branham (6-1-1) pulled into first place in the BVAL West Valley Division with a slight edge over Piedmont Hills (5-1-2).

The Bruins dominated in winning convincingly 5-1 over San Jose and 4-0 over Evergreen Valley. Julio Sanchez was the man of the hour against San Jose, knocking in two goals and assisting on another. He nailed a 25-yarder into the upper left corner of the goal off a loose ball midway through the first half to make the score 3-0. He got his second score on a breakaway after picking up a free kick from Mario Bayona to close out Branham's scoring.

After last week's games, Pioneer (3-4-2) found itself right in the middle of the Mt. Hamilton Division pack, neck and neck with Mt. Pleasant (3-4-2) and Leigh (3-4-0) and looking up at Leland and Oak Grove. The week saw the Mustangs battle to a 0-0 tie with Santa Teresa and grab a 3-2 win over Leigh.

Pioneer had a goal called back against Santa Teresa and had to settle for the tie.

The Leigh contest was intense with Tyler Winslow, Salvador Tlazola, and Flavio Huato putting in goals and providing enough offense to get the win.