Despite the Downey Knights being 0-5-1 in Central California Athletic League play entering Friday’s match with Pitman, they were a team that the Pride refused to take lightly. Quite frankly, Pitman can’t afford to take anyone lightly from here on out to give themselves an outside shot at the CCAL crown.

Fortunately for head coach Manny Romero and his staff, their team understood the assignment, improving their league record to 4-2 while maintaining second place in CCAL after defeating the Knights 3-0. With four games left in conference competition, they are only staring up at the Gregori Jaguars, who have compiled a 7-0 league record.

The Pride dominated in all facets of Friday’s game.  All three of their goals came in the first half. They came courtesy of Gabe Shalloue-Enes in the 21st minute, Noah Shamoon in the 27th minute, and then Sebastian Chahal just three minutes later. Meanwhile, the Knights were only able to muster up three shots on goal the entire night.

“We just had to take care of business,” Romero said. “We needed to get a good result so I can rest my players, put our subs in so that we're ready and rested for next week, which will be really tough games.”

Pitman will have to play four games next week, including a trio of league games. They will first take the pitch on Monday when they travel to Modesto to take on the Panthers in a make-up game that was postponed this week because of rain. On Tuesday, they will again be on the road for a non-conference game against the Cougars of Golden Valley, which is one of the best programs in the Sac-Joaquin Section with a 16-2 overall record. They return to CCAL action on Wednesday when they welcome crosstown rival Turlock to their field. Friday brings another home match, this time against Enochs.

“We're trying to stay in second place and, obviously, trying to push for first, but that's out of our hands now,” Romero said, referring to the fact that they need to win out while needing Gregori to lose one game before the final match of the year between the Pride and Jaguars on Feb. 5.

“We need to take care of Modesto first. Once we get Modesto taken care of, we have to just keep it going because GV is not going to be easy. And we know what Turlock can do to us after they beat us (1-0 on Jan. 17). Nothing is going to be easy,” he continued.

It also won’t be easy if they are to be without star goalkeeper Isaac Padilla, who fell and strained his right shoulder after a collision with a Downey player right before the half. He did not play for the remainder of the game as trainers attended to the injury.

“It’s just a little bit of pain right now,” Romero shared. “We’re going to check on it, but he should be good.”

Padilla himself shared that there shouldn’t be any reason for him to miss any time.

“We’re going to need him. He’s been big for us,” Romero added. “We’re going to need everybody and just finish this stretch strong.”