The Sedona Red Rock High boys soccer team recovered quickly after a tough loss earlier in the week to beat Chino Valley High on senior night in dominating fashion Oct. 17, 6-0.
Larson Newspapers
The Sedona Red Rock High boys soccer team recovered quickly after a tough loss earlier in the week to beat Chino Valley High on senior night in dominating fashion Oct. 17, 6-0.
“Even though Chino Valley is region champion, our pride to win was still there,” Sedona head coach Jared Grondin said.
Senior standout Ben Gordon scored two quick goals in the beginning of the first half and Sedona never looked back.
“Ben [Gordon] has been with me all four years. He has a good head on his shoulders and he plays with a lot of passion and intensity,” Grondin said.
Jorge Montes de Oca added another goal to send the Scorpions into the locker room with a dominating 3-0 lead.
In the second half, senior Michael Krajnak scored a goal in the first few minutes and Oscar Montes de Oca finished Chino Valley off with two goals of his own to make it a 6-0 final.
“We’re playing well together right now. Hopefully, it will carry over in state,” Gordon said.
Goalkeeper Pat Fleishmann gave a stellar performance of his own recording a shut out while saving eight shots on goal.
“With Pat [Fleishmann] in the goal it gives us other options on offense. He came up big for us against Chino,” Grondin said.
Grondin says his players were upset they didn’t win a regional championship, but expects this group of kids to go very far in the state playoffs beginning this weekend.
On Oct. 15, Chino Valley squeaked by Sedona with a narrow 1-0 win on a last-minute goal to claim the 1A-3A West regional championship.
Watching Chino Valley celebrate wasn’t easy for the boys, Grondin said, but they put it past them and are ready to move on.
The reason the two games were so close together is because the first game, originally scheduled in late September, was postponed due to weather and sloppy field conditions.
“The regular season is over and now it’s time to move on to state competition. We have plenty of new things to work on this week in preparation for state,” Grondin said.
With the win over Chino Valley, Sedona wraps up their regular season campaign with a 17-2 overall record and 8-2 in regional play. With a spectacular regular season coming to an emotional end on senior night, the five seniors are not ready to call it a career just yet.
“We’ve got more work to do. We are going to try and make the best of it and go out there and win it all,” Krajnak said.
The Scorpions will travel to Tempe on Friday, Oct. 26, to play in the first round of the state playoffs.
Sedona will be matched up against either Precision High or Surrey Garden High pending the result of their game.
The Scorpions will be at the Benedict Sports Complex, on field three and game time is set for 3 p.m.
Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 131, 04 e-mail to bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com.
