The Sedona Red Rock Middle School Scorpions defeated Camp Verde 5-1 in the championship game of the Verde Valley Middle School Co-ed Soccer Tournament on Saturday, May 10, in Cottonwood. The win concluded Head Coach Gavin Shippen’s inaugural season with the Scorpions with a 13-2-2 record.
“[Sedona] played well, and it was a really great season,” Camp Verde Head Coach Madeline Reay said. “We wanted the win, but I wasn’t upset with how they played. And missing a few starters is always hard … And I think that they just did what they needed to do, and even though it didn’t go our way, we still had a lot of really good opportunities. And so it just was one of those days. But I was really proud of how the season turned out and I was proud of them.”
“We’ve had ups and downs, but overall, it’s been a pretty good season,” Scorpion center back Jeancarlo Carvaja said prior to the finals. “There were a couple of teams that we did struggle [with] we lost two games and one of those losses was against Camp Verde … But when we played [Camp Verde] at home we did win. So we’re trying to break [this] little tie breaker.”
Camp Verde had defeated Sedona 3-1 on April 23, followed by a 2-0 Sedona victory on April 29.
“I told the team that we’re playing against a really solid, strong team, and Camp Verde is good through and through, every one of their starters and relievers, they’re rock-solid,” Shippen said. “With it being a co-ed league, you have to have good boys and good girls, and Camp Verde checked all those boxes.”
Sedona’s first goal was scored by David “Atlas” Branch with an assist from Luke Metzger; Branch then scored a second goal unassisted. Metzger assisted Carvajal with a third goal and Camp Verde’s only goal was scored during the closing moments of the first half by Aden Pesquira.
“To end the first half, we had all the momentum, and then all of a sudden it was 3-1, and in soccer, it’s kind of a dangerous. We didn’t have a huge cushion, and we could have came off the field feeling great, but everyone’s head was a little down,” Shippen said.
dribbles the ball.
The Scorpions added to their lead in the second half with goals by Carvajal and Branch.
“It feels great because Camp Verde wins mostly all [of the games] every school season, and I am grateful for the teamwork,” goalkeeper Salvador Sanchez said after being named one of the tournament’s standout players.
Former Head Coach Sam Blom also highlighted Sanchez’s performance in Sedona’s semifinal matchup against Cottonwood Community School.
“The final score was 2-0, but it was a very competitive game, with great defense on the Sedona team,” Blom said. “Every time [CCS] made a run, the defense just backed up. Either the midfield or the full backs came back and helped out. So it’s just just a great game all around … In my opinion [Sanchez] was the MVP yesterday, he’s just awesome.”
Nitzul Bustos Landa received the standout tournament player award for the Scorpions, which went to Gio Noguez and Ray Caballero for Camp Verde.
“Gio had a really great season,” Reay said. “He was a perfect midfielder … he was always supporting offense, and he led the team in assists also, and then he also was a midfielder who always got back and helped defense out. So he was involved in every part of the field and supported every single teammate.”
“[Caballero] played wing defender, and she just became one of the most consistent players that we had for the whole season,” Reay said. “She really listened to everything that the coaches told her to work on at the beginning of the season, and that ended up getting her a starting spot, and we just knew that we could, like, really rely on her playing defense and playing it consistently the whole game.”
Sedona’s first game in the tournament resulted in a victory over Dr. Daniel Bright School on Thursday, May 8, followed by another over Cottonwood Community School.
Camp Verde entered the seven-team tournament as a number-one seed and defeated Beaver Creek on Friday, May 9, to advance to the finals; losing to Sedona put the team’s season record at 12-3-1.
Reay said that she will likely return to the Camp Verde middle school team next season to help the players grow into the Camp Verde high school program, which she also coaches.
In the consolation bracket, Cottonwood Community School defeated Clarkdale-Jerome School to win third place in the tournament.
