Top-ranked Durango blanks Bishop Gorman

Durango’s Paolo Sarnataro often takes on the personality of his soccer coach during matches.

“Coach and I — we yell at our team,” Sarnataro said. “I’m like a mini coach, basically. (My teammates) yell at me and I yell at them too. But it’s all about communication.”

The senior goalkeeper yelled, encouraged and made three saves Monday en route to recording his fifth shutout of the season as the host Trailblazers moved into sole possession of first place in the Class 4A Southwest League with a 4-0 win over Bishop Gorman.

“He is very vocal and that’s what I love about him,” Durango coach Richard Cuellar said. “That’s going to be my biggest loss (next season). He’s an amazing player. Sometimes he gets out of hand, but he knows when I look at him, he calms it down.”

Top-ranked Durango (11-1-1, 4-0 Southwest League) — behind the far-reaching echoes of Sarnataro and Cuellar — scored three second-half goals, including two in the last 11 minutes, to put the game out of reach.

Marcos Delgado converted a penalty kick in the 69th minute, and Alfredo Robles-Rodriguez scored off an assist from Chris Bramasco three minutes later to lead the Trailblazers.

“I’m never comfortable,” Cuellar said, smiling. “I don’t mind them making a couple of mistakes, but if it’s one or two too many, I’m going to scream at these gentlemen.”

Despite controlling possession and taking seven of its 16 shots in the first half, Durango led only 1-0 at halftime on Jamie Munguia’s penalty kick in the 23rd minute.

Cuellar wasn’t discouraged by the lack of scoring, and he insisted that his players keep shooting.

“That’s our thing,” Cuellar said. “Since last year, we just weren’t finishing enough on goal. So I kept telling the guys to keep shooting. (The goals) will come.”

And, eventually, they did.

Alejandro Corchado added an insurance goal off an assist by Anthony Sotelo in the 56th minute to give Durango a 2-0 lead.

Everett Hume made five saves for Gorman (9-3, 3-1 Southwest), which is ranked No. 5 in the Southern Nevada Coaches Poll.

“We’re coming off a pretty good couple of weeks, but we just didn’t show up today,” Gaels coach Tommy Tate said. “So we’ll go back and train tomorrow, get ready for Wednesday, and hopefully, have a better result before we get ready to play them at home.”