The Sedona Red Rock High School varsity soccer team played against the Grand Canyon Phantoms on Oct. 22, in the Sedona team’s last game of the regular season. 

This was not just any game — it was their senior night, and with a win they would have a shot at the playoffs.

First Half 

The Scorpions kicked off, however, the Phantoms were not able to do anything with the early possession as they ended up turning the ball over to the Scorpions.

After a few minutes of no action, Sedona senior Jorge Luna Landaverde received a foul for accidentally tripping a Phantoms player, resulting in a free kick for Grand Canyon that resulted in another turnover back to the Scorpions.

The game appeared to look like it would be a slow, low-scoring game with both teams struggling on offense. However the Scorpions played better defense then the Phantoms and it was soon clear they had more offensive power, although they could not convert that into a goal just yet.

“Ramon Betancourt and Owen [Didier Garcia Jiminez], they control the defense and midfielder, and then they create opportunities for the rest to be able to score,” assistant coach Juan Carlos Aguilar said.

With some good passing, the Scorpions finally broke through the Phantoms’ defense and had a good shot on goal, before senior Israel Montanez was called offside, resulting in the Phantoms regaining possession. 

The Scorpions got close with multiple shots that went just barely wide, and a couple saved by the Phantoms goalie, but it was clear that the Scorpions were getting ready to score their first goal — it was only a matter of time. 

Then a referee paused the game because the Scorpions’ supporters and their drums were too loud.

As the first half was coming to a close, the score was still tied at zero, and it looked like the fans were in for a long night. However this changed because the Phantoms players started to get physically and verbally violent with the Scorpions, leading to yellow cards all around as the Scorpions retaliated.

This seemed to light a fire under the Scorpions. Four minutes later, with 12 minutes and 45 seconds left in the half, Scorpions freshman Javier Ruiz Olvera finally scored, but it did not stop there.

With 10 minutes and 25 seconds left in the first half the Scorpions scored their second goal, by sophomore Yoiner Agudelo Esparza, putting them up 2-0.

With 22.5 seconds left in the first half, senior and team co-captain Alexis Flores scored a chip-in goal, putting the Scorpions up 3-0 going into halftime.

“Honestly, I saw a lot of things wrong in the first half,” Head Coach Gavin Shippen said. “As coach, I would say that I’m a little bit critical, and have an idea of how I want us to play. I feel like we could have been passing more, holding onto the ball.

“Defense did great. There wasn’t a lot of chances on their ends, I think we could have done a better job,” Shippen said. “We took a week and a half off with fall break, I’ll blame it on that.”

Second Half

After halftime concluded, the Phantoms kicked off to the Scorpions. Just like the first half, the second half began with a minutes of back and forth from both teams, however, neither was able to capitalize.

While all was well with the Scorpions, that did not seem to be the case for the Phantoms, as frustrations were starting to boil over. As a Scorpions player was running down the sideline in an attempt to score, a Phantoms player trying to contest the ball pulled the Scorpions player down. 

The referees somehow missed the Phantoms’ foul, so the team faced no penalty.

A few minutes later, the Scorpions showed their scoring ability yet again: Montanez scored, making it 4-0 with 32 minutes and 40 seconds left in the second half. 

After being up 4-0, many teams would start to give up and show signs of laziness, however, this wasn’t the case for the Scorpions as they kept on fighting. After an injury timeout was called for a Phantoms player, the Scorpions’ other co-captain, senior Ramon Betancourt scored another goal just eight minutes after Montanez’s point. 

Betancourt had been fighting hard to score a goal all night. 

The Scorpions were now ahead 5-0 with 24 minutes left to play in the second half. After a great save by Scorpions goalie, senior Alexis Parra Landaverde, referees called another injury timeout for one of the Phantoms players. Scorpions senior Owen Didier Garcia Jiminez scored the best goal of the night, due to the brilliant passing that took place beforehand, putting the Scorpions up 6-0.

“Owen, he’s a complete player,” assistant coach Juan Carlos Aguilar. “I’ve been coaching for 17 years in Sedona, boys and girls, and I [know] talent when I see it. Owen controls the midfield, looks up and makes passes that you know are for sure going to end up on goal.”

Aguilar said Didier Garcia Jiminez had “three brilliant passes to his teammates, and then they ended up scoring on that, and then he scored his own goal. He has all the potential to continue this soccer career if [he] wants it. What I love about him is that he never gives up.”

As the game neared the end, with just 2 minutes and 31 seconds left, the Scorpions senior Jorge Luna Landaverde scored yet another goal, putting Sedona up 7-0, which remained the final score.

“Second half was better,” Shippen said. “‘More goals at halftime,’ I said. ‘I want more passing.’ It was a little bit better. Still wasn’t perfect, but it’s probably going to take us another year or two for us to really make my vision come true, but I got to give it out, give it up for all the heart that was out there on the field, everyone played as hard as they could.”

“Pretty good game overall,” Betancourt said. “I mean, we came out and we won 7-0 on our senior night. I think just keep walking. Most of our seniors scored too, which is really nice.” 

“It stings a little bit, it kind of hurts. You know, I wanted some more games. I think we kind of got robbed,” Betancourt said. “Overall, a lot of teams have played more games than we have. But I can’t really do anything about that.” 

The Sedona Red Rock News recognizes the seniors who played soccer this year: Alexis Parra Landaverde, Ramon Betancourt, Owen Didier Garcia Jiminez, Abel Lopez Villa, Alexis Flores Casas, Larry Palmer, Israel Montanez, Giovanni Diaz, Jorge Luna Landaverde, Alan Rios and Gustavo Vazquez Martinez.