Even some starters on the Sedona Red Rock High School boys soccer team hadn’t realized that they are ranked second in all of Division IV.
“Really?” said senior striker Juan Hernandez, known as “Paco” to his teammates, who leads the Scorpions in scoring. “That’s cool.
“It’s pretty awesome that all the work our smaller school [has] put in is finally showing as one of the top teams in the state. We work pretty good together.”
Since head coach Cindy Hauserman changed her 4-3-3 formation Dec. 8, moving sophomore Julian Travaglia up to join Hernandez at forward prior to the Scorpions’ three-game run to the Coyotes Classic championship at Arizona Lutheran Academy, the realization is just beginning to dawn on both strikers.
Travaglia has emerged as a reliable second striker since booting in the go-ahead goal of the Coyotes Classic championship Dec. 12 against Glendale Preparatory Academy.
“When we first came into this year, I don’t think any of us expected to be undefeated,” Travaglia said. “As we won every single game, we just decided we could go beat all these teams and go to state. It’s like a confidence thing, really.”
Travaglia punched in a goal late in the first half and helped Hernandez register his third hat trick of the season Saturday, Jan. 9, in a 5-1 home win over Horizon Honors High School.
“Actually, the one he scored, I assisted on,” Hernandez said. “Our goal is to win State, so we both kind of think alike.
“Our team, I really think, is not as strong as last year, but this year, we actually listen to each other — more than any other season. We play more as one than individually.”
As Hernandez and Travaglia grow more potent, that has allowed senior midfielders Jerson Mendoza and Jesus “Chuy” Estudillo to play up and attack the goal from the outside as well.
Mendoza assisted Hernandez on a first-half goal against the Eagles, while Estudillo iced the game with a late goal.
Both players scored in the second half of a 12-1 blowout Jan. 5 of the Odyssey Institute for Advanced and International Studies at home.
“Happy for the win, but not a pretty game,” Hauserman said after practice Monday, Jan. 11. “We worked on fine-tuning a few things training. [We] have to play better [against] Bourgade.”
Following a Tuesday, Jan. 12, road trip to Bourgade Catholic High School — a 2-1 victim of the Scorpions at the Coyotes Classic — SRRHS faces another sectional challenger at home Thursday, Jan. 14, against Joy Christian School, before facing fifth-ranked Coolidge High School in a rescheduled divisional clash Saturday, Jan. 16.
Unique to the Scorpions’ ranking is that the only team they are looking up at in the power rankings, Dysart High School [5-0-1] is actually third behind SRRHS and 11th-ranked Glendale Prep in the Section III standings.
The Scorpions face Glendale Prep and Dysart, sandwiched around a road trip to Wickenburg High School, from Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 14 through 16, in the home stretch of the regular season.
“I don’t really know most of these other teams like Dysart, but our hardest game will probably be Glendale Prep,” said senior Corbin Pulido, whose return has allowed senior Daniel Ruiz to lead senior Jordan Rivera and sophomores Brian Burke and Justin Wassell on defense. “That was a really intense and close championship. I’d guess they want to beat us pretty bad.”
For more photos and a breakdown of the Scorpions’ 12 goals in their sectional opener, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 13, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
