By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The 2A No. 19 Eloy Santa Cruz Dust Devils (6-5 seeding, minus 4.8913) will enter Lawson Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The South Region pairing with the No. 28 Morenci Wildcats (2-8, minus 16.6047) will be the regular season finale for both teams as neither is ranked high enough to qualify for the 2A state tourney. The start time is 6 p.m.
The other region pairing is No. 31 Florence American Leadership – Anthem South (0-11, minus 22.9280) at No. 22 Tombstone (0-10-1, minus 8.7616) on Feb. 4.

2A State Rankings
The Top 16 of 31 teams will make up the state tourney field, beginning with the first round on Feb. 11. There is no play-in round. Five of six teams are from the East Region, four from both the Valley (4-7) and Central Regions (4-8), two of six from the South Region, and one of five from the West Region Glendale are in the Top 16. The five region champions and the other 11 top-ranked teams will comprise the state tourney field. Current region leaders are Gilbert Arete Prep for the East, Gilbert Trivium Prep for the Valley, Phoenix Country Day School for the Central, Tucson San Miguel for the South, and Glendale Prep for the West.

State rankings as of Feb. 4 were Phoenix Country Day (12-0 seeding, 16.5391 rating) No. 1, Trivium Prep (10-1, 14.1595) No. 2, Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (9-2, 10.5078) No. 3, Glendale Prep (9-2, 9.1877) No. 4, Arete Prep (8-2-1, 8.8460) No. 5, San Miguel Catholic (10-0-1, 6.3566) No. 6, Phoenix Christian (7-3-1, 4.6672) No. 7, and Gilbert Classical (9-3, 3.4872) No. 8.
Chandler Prep (7-4-1, 3.0088) was No. 9, Gilbert San Tan Charter (5-4-1, 2.2288) No. 10, Phoenix Veritas Prep (5-5, 1.9677) No. 11, Phoenix Horizon Honors (6-4-2, 1.3058) No. 12, Scottsdale Prep (6-5-2, 0.4440) No. 13, Scottsdale Christian (7-4, 0.4397) No. 14, Phoenix NFL Yet (6-3-2, 0.2204) No. 15, and Tucson Desert Christian (7-3-1, 0.0944) No. 16.

2A South Region Standings

Region standings as of Feb. 1 were San Miguel (10-0-1 seeding, 4-0-1 3A South Region) first, Desert Christian (7-3-1, 4-0-1) second, Eloy Santa Cruz (5-5, 2-2) third, Tombstone (4-6, 1-3) fourth, Morenci (2-8, 1-3) fifth, and Florence American Leadership – Anthem South (0-11, 0-4) sixth.
To date in region contests, San Miguel Mercy Ruled Morenci (10-2, Jan. 9), shutout Santa Cruz (4-0, Jan. 15), shutout Tombstone (4-0, Jan. 21), Mercy-Rule ALA – Anthem South (10-0, Jan. 23), and tied with Desert Christian (1-1, Jan. 27); Desert Christian blanked ALA – Anthem South (6-0, Jan. 9), downed Morenci (7-2, Jan. 15), blanked Santa Cruz (4-0, Jan. 21), blanked Tombstone (5-0, Jan. 23), and tied with San Miguel (1-1, Jan. 27); Santa Cruz shutout ALA – Anthem South (4-0, Jan. 29) and Tombstone (1-0, Jan. 31); and Morenci defeated ALA – Anthem South (7-2, Jan. 27).
No. 19 Santa Cruz Dust Devils (5-5)

Santa Cruz (2-6 overall, 6-5 seeding, 2-2 3A East Region) is averaging a score per match of 3-3 (34-30) or a tie. The Homar Cruz-coached Dust Devils have wins over Tombstone (6-4, Dec. 11), Scottsdale Cicero Prep (3-0, Dec. 13), Morenci (6-4, Jan. 23), ALA – Anthem South (4-0, Jan. 29), Tombstone (1-0, Jan. 31), and Phoenix Basis (8-2, Feb. 3) along with losses to Desert Christian (3-4, Dec. 2), Phoenix NFL Yet (0-2, Dec. 4), San Miguel (0-4, Jan. 15), Gilbert Classical (3-6, Jan. 17), and Desert Christian (0-4, Jan. 21).

Additionally, the Dust Devils went 0-2-1 during the Queen Creek American Leadership – Ironwood tourney, with losses to San Tan Valley Combs (0-9, Dec. 5) and Chandler Seton Catholic (0-4, Dec. 6) with a tie against Florence (3-3, Dec. 5). Santa Cruz is averaging an overall score per match of 3-3 (37-46) or a tie.
The Dust Devils have a 14-member team of two seniors, ten juniors, and two sophomores. The roster includes seniors Andres Dominguez and Alejandro Salazar; juniors Jesus Arredondo, Gabriel Beltran, Andres Cosillos, Brian Lizarraga, Angel Morales, Adrian Ramirez, Alejandro Ramirez, Nathaniel Ramos, Alejandro Salazar, Fernando Saramieto; and sophomores Samuel Aguirre and Juan Bojorquez.
Santa Cruz is competing in the 6-member 2A South Region with Florence American Leadership – Anthem South, Morenci, Tombstone, and Tucson schools Desert Christian and San Miguel Catholic.
No. 28 Morenci Wildcats (2-8)
Morenci (2-8 overall, 2-8 seeding, 1-3 2A South Region) is averaging a score per match of 2-5 (23-54) or a 3-point deficit. The Maurizio Ciriello-coached Wildcats have wins over Globe (1-0, Jan. 13) and ALA – Anthem South (7-2, Jan. 27) as well as losses to Desert Christian (1-6, Dec. 5), Tombstone (1-4, Dec. 20), Globe (1-2, Jan. 6), San Miguel (2-10, Jan. 9), Desert Christian (2-7, Jan. 15), Santa Cruz, (4-6, Jan. 23), Thatcher (0-11, Jan. 25), and Tombstone (4-6, Jan. 29).

To date, Morenci’s offensive output is eight goals, with senior midfielder/forward Armando Lopez Rivera having seven to his credit and junior forward Lyndale Waterhouse the other one.
The Wildcats have a 22-member roster of four seniors, eight juniors, two sophomores, and eight freshmen. The Wildcats include seniors Nolyn Adams (3), Bryant Figueroa (8), Armando Lopez Rivera (11), and Jossue Vaca Jr. (10); juniors Aaron Esquivel (37), Emma Kerrigan (6), Samiel Kitcheyan (12), Summer Luster (13), Johnny Madrid (32/66), Manuel Medina (14/99), Jose Torres (20), and Lyndale Waterhouse (16); sophomores Karol Escalona (7) and Clayton Jacobs (40); and freshmen Emily Dominquez (9), Katerine Escalona (1), Christian Kudadiri (4), Braxton Merrill (2), Juan Ramirez (5), Aiden Nogales (19), Juaquin Ma (33), and Lohgan Szymanski (18).

Morenci is competing in the 6-member 2A South Region with Eloy Santa Cruz, Florence American Leadership – Anthem South, Tombstone, Tucson Desert Christian, and Tucson San Miguel.