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Gaels win state title for coaching family

RENO -- Nick Arbelaez dropped to both knees in the middle of the Damonte Ranch High School soccer field, covered his face and let the emotions of the moment and the past month take over.


"This is such an amazing feeling right now," the Bishop Gorman boys soccer coach said after his Gaels beat the Douglas Tigers 1-0 to capture the Class 4A state title. "Every accolade I get, everything I accomplish is in honor of my father."


The Gaels won their second consecutive state title with the memory of former coach Victor Arbelaez fresh in their minds. Arbelaez, a soccer coach at Bishop Gorman for two decades, died Oct. 11.


"We wanted to do this for our coaches, all of them," said Gaels junior Nick Eary, who scored the game's only goal against Douglas with 17 minutes to play in the second half. "This whole team just came together this year."


Arbelaez told his team how proud he was of them and then turned and thanked the 100 or so Gorman parents and fans for their support this season. He then found a few private moments as his team celebrated on the field.


"I've never seen any group come together and regroup the way this team did," Arbelaez said. "I am so proud of them and so thankful for what they did. That's why I knew this team would pull through today. They know what it takes to win a big game and overcome adversity."


Bishop Gorman (16-1-3) became the first school to win back-to-back large-school state titles since Bonanza in 1995 (Class 3A) and 1996 (Class 4A). The Gaels have now won three Class 4A state titles over the past six years and four titles overall (the school also won a Class 3A state championship in 1992).


"This whole year this team struggled to score," Eary said. "But we never give up. We keep battling."


Eary beat Douglas goalkeeper Jose Alcaraz from about 10 yards in front of the net.


"I just made a run across the back of the box," Eary said. "I was just in the right place at the right time. It was an unbelievable feeling."


Arbelaez, who also coached the Gaels to the state title a year ago after taking over the team from his ailing father, wasn't surprised it was Eary who scored the biggest goal of the season.


"Not at all," Arbelaez said with a smile. "He also scored the game winner last year in the state finals. The kid just knows how to finish plays."


Gorman beat Silverado 3-2 in last year's title game at Cimarron-Memorial.


"This is just so great," said Gorman goalkeeper JoJo Vitale, who earned a pair of 1-0 shutout victories over South Tahoe and Douglas this weekend at Damonte Ranch in the semifinals and finals. "To come through after all we went through this year is such a great feeling."


Vitale wasn't tested at all in the first half as the Gaels held Douglas without a shot on goal. Gorman dominated the first half but had to settle for a 0-0 tie.


"You don't want to know what I said at halftime," Arbelaez said. "But I just reminded them that we just needed to go out and play our game and things will be all right. We're lucky we got that goal."


The Gaels definitely did not want the game to go to overtime or a shootout.


"No, not at all," Arbelaez said. "We had to do that too much already this year."


Eary and teammates John Vaccaro, Austin Cain and Adam Knaff all had scoring
opportunities in the second half with the game still scoreless but failed to convert.

VICTOR ARBELAEZ SR.: 1953-2007

Longtime coach once humbled Pele After collapsing on the soccer field during Bishop Gorman's boys soccer practice, Victor Arbelaez Sr. made the sign of the cross. He told the team's coach - his son - that he loved him, his brother , Victor Jr. , and sister , Jackie. "Word for word," Gaels coach Nick Arbelaez said. "I think he knew." Within minutes, the community had lost a man regarded as the father of soccer in Las Vegas, a former NCAA champion and competitor whose play upstaged the famous Pele in a match here 30 years ago that old-timers still talk about. The senior Arbelaez was pronounced dead at Summerlin Hospital on Thursday afternoon. He was 54. "I didn't know what to expect, but I felt my Dad knew it was his time by the gestures he made on the way out of the gate," said Nick Arbelaez, 27. "I think he knew exactly what was going on. "Ultimately, he passed on where he loved the most, on the soccer field." Funeral services for Victor Arbelaez Sr. will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Viator Catholic Church, 2461 E. Flamingo Road. Arbelaez helped the University of San Francisco win an NCAA title in 1975. In 1977, he scored the lone goal for the Las Vegas Quicksilvers in a North American Soccer League match against the New York Cosmos at what is now Sam Boyd Stadium, upstaging world-famous stars Pele of the Cosmos and Eusebio of the Quicksilvers. In 22 seasons coaching Bishop Gorman, he was 371-31-8 and led the Gaels to 11 state championships. In 2002, Arbelaez underwent surgery for lung cancer, and he had a benign tumor removed from his jaw in July 2006. As an interim coach, as his father recovered, Nick Arbelaez led the Gaels to a state title last year. He was named permanent coach before this season, and his father was well enough to help him. By Monday evening, three banners had been attached to a fence near Field 3 at the Kellogg-Zaher sports complex as a tribute to the popular coach. The field will be renamed in Victor Arbelaez's honor, Nick Arbelaez said. "He was an inspiration," Nick Arbelaez said. "I just hope to get half that respect. He had such unbelievable character. He's rubbed off on so many people." Nick Arbelaez said his father's diet consisted of soft foods, such as gelatin, vegetables and smoothies. The elder Arbelaez looked fit, according to Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Club President Roger Tabor. "It looked like he was making real progress," said Tabor, whose son, Colin, plays on the Gaels junior varsity team. "Man, what he had been going through. But it looked like he could run five miles without warming up." Victor Arbelaez coached the Las Vegas Strikers, a club team, in 2004 and 2005. "He had such passion for the game and for people," Strikers co-owner Steve Lazarus said. "Everyone took to Victor so well, and there was nothing that he would ask you to do that he wouldn't do himself." After Bishop Gorman's recent alumni game, Tabor, a former UNLV player, watched as Arbelaez, as usual, received numerous hugs. "People came out of the woodwork just to hug Vic," Tabor said. "Everywhere he went, people hugged him. He was so brave. God, he is going to be missed."