The Sedona Red Rock High School boys’ soccer team will be starting the new season on Tuesday, Sept. 3, with a 20-member team and a six-man practice squad. New head coach Gavin Shippen said that having a junior varsity team would have spread the talent out too thin.
“Replacing [the seniors] is not going to be easy,” senior Ramon Betancourt said. “But I think the team, especially with our new coach, is going to be a lot better as a whole. Because individually, last year, every player was really good, but I just don’t think we were able to bring it together as much as we could have.”
“It’s going to be hard because the seniors we lost, because they were really good,” senior Alexis Flores Casas said. “But I think we don’t have that hard of a schedule this year, so maybe that’s going to help a lot … We play against a lot of schools that didn’t do so well last year.”
Scorpion 2024-25 Soccer Roster
Captains
Ramon Betancourt, senior
Alexis Flores Casas, senior
David Molina Beltran. freshman
Starters
Yoiner Agudelo Esparza, sophomore
Nicolas Bayona, senior
Owen Jimenez, senior
Leo Trotoush, senior
Abel Villa, senior
Israel Montanez, senior
Omar Alexis Matus Martinez, senior
Alexis Ivan Parra Landaverde, senior
Ryder Kelley, sophomore
Javier Ruiz Olvera, freshman
Ariel Bustos Landa, freshman
Emilio Pantoja Ruiz, freshman
Alan Rios, senior
Jose Bruno Castro, sophomore
Angel Montes de Oca, freshman
Axel Roblero, freshman
Jorge Landaverde Luna, senior
Louis Sanchez, sophomore
Larry Palmer, senior
Practice Squad
Gustavo Vazquez Martinez, senior
Aldo Rodriguez, junior
Khrystian Cordova, sophomore
Eduardo Ramirez. junior
Louis Sanchez, sophomore
Ares Lopez Garcia, freshman
Staff
Head Coach: Gavin Shippen
Assistant Coach: Fernando Beltran
Goalkeeper Coach: Garan Dieterich
Team Manager: Nicolas Steven Triana Bayon
In 2023, the team went on an 11- game winning streak ended by a narrow 1-2 loss to Chino Valley at home on Oct. 12 and another 1-2 loss to Madison Highland. In the postseason, the team beat Desert Christian 5-1 on Oct. 24, but lost to Snowflake on Oct. 26 by 1-4. 2022 also saw the Scorpions take second place in the state finals.
Senior Larry Joseph Palmer said the need for new players made him want to join the team for the first time.
“It feels pretty good to be back playing soccer,” Palmer said. “This is my first year on the high school team but I played on the middle school team. I feel like I’m not 100% yet to what my potential is, but I’m getting there.”
“A lot of good players left, but we also got a lot of new good players coming up from freshmen,” senior Israel Montanez said. “So I’m excited for that. It’s cool to play with new people, especially on my last year.”
Tuesday, Sept. 3, will also be the inaugural game for new goalkeeper coach Garan Dieterich, a Prescott native.
“I think [Shippen] and the team’s up for the challenge,” Dieterich said. “It’ll be nice to have a bunch of fresh feet on the field and some new minds behind the coaching staff to see where we can take the team. I’ve seen some good talent out there already this year, and we’re excited to get them trained and hone their skills.”
“Goalie is a very technical position,” Dieterich continued. “It takes a lot of time and training to get things right, and it’s a very dangerous position, too. You can hurt yourself pretty easily if you’re being sloppy … We’re throwing our bodies. We’re taking dives. If you dive with your elbow out, you can mess up your shoulder … You have to know how to fall, and then you have to be willing to take a hit, too. I’ve had plenty of collisions playing this sport.”
Assistant Coach Fernando Beltran is returning after his son Luis Beltran graduated in May, but his other son, freshman captain David Beltran, will be playing center midfield and forward this season.
Shippen said that one of his coaching challenges has been his language difficulties with several of the Spanish-speaking students.
“We have Coach Fernando, who is helpful because he translates for everyone,” senior Abel Lopez Villa said. “Most of the team is Latin and [Shippen] tries to speak Spanish, he’s improving. And if he needs any of the players who speak Spanish to translate we will also do it for him, so it’s not really a big barrier.”
The Scorpions will start the season with two tournaments, the Boys’ Longhorn Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23 and 24, and the Chino Cup on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14. Shippen said that his strategy for the team will focus on ball possession and control.
“[Shippen’s] saying is ‘eight passes is one goal,’” Lopez Villa said. “It’s mainly about just connecting with each other, giving those passes, giving everyone time to play.”
“Our first touch is something [Shippen] was talking about,” Montanez said. “The first touch is really important. It can make or break the whole the movement, the play of the game.”
Tickets for all regular season soccer games are free, including for the home opener on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 4 p.m. against Madison High.
“[People should come out] to support your local high school and get to come see some sports. And we hope to make a really entertaining and fun season for everybody to come out and cheer us on,” Dieterich said
