Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Two Eagles rush to the sideline to retrieve the ball in Morenci, defeating the Wildcats 5-1 on Jan. 23. The Isaac Rogers-coached Eagles outscored six region opponents by a combined 36-5 goals. Thatcher hosts No. 23 Gilbert Arete Prep for a play-in match on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
THATCHER – Thatcher hosts No. 23 Gilbert Arete Prep as No. 10 for a 3A state soccer play-in match on Thursday, Feb. 2. The match will be played in John Mikelson Field on the Eastern Arizona College campus at 6 p.m.
The Eagles (10-1 seeding, 6.6939 rating) finished the regular season as the Southeast Region champion while Arete Prep (6-4-1, 1.2468) was fourth in the Metro Region.
Arete Prep Chargers
The 9-7-2 Chargers have wins of 7-0 over Gilbert San Tan Charter (Nov. 28), 2-1 over Gilbert Benjamin Franklin (Dec. 2), 2-1 over Parker (Dec. 3), 2-1 over Tonopah Valley (Dec. 29), 2-1 in two overtimes over Chandler Prep (Jan. 3), 2-0 over Phoenix Horizon Honors (Jan. 17), 8-0 over Mesa Lincoln Prep (Jan. 19), 3-0 over Scottsdale Cicero Prep (Jan. 23), and 4-1 over Phoenix Highland Prep (Jan. 27),
The losses are 0-3 to Glendale Trivium Prep (Dec. 7), 1-3 to Florence (Dec. 28), 0-3 to Florence (Dec. 29), 2-4 to Chandler Prep (Dec. 30), 0-3 to Gilbert Classical (Jan. 9), 1-8 to Chandler Valley Christian (Jan. 11), 0-6 to Phoenix Basis (Jan. 28).
There were ties of 2-2 with Eloy Santa Cruz (Dec. 2) and 0-0 with Phoenix Veritas Prep (Jan. 31).
Arete Prep lists seven seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores, and six freshmen on its roster. The team includes seniors Dominic Alvarez, Hunter Lewis, Baraka Nzou, Dhruv Rattan, Peter Waheibi, Liam Whitehead, and Aiden Wonder; juniors Ayaan Ahmed, Aree Chmelnik, Matthew Evans, Jaden Kamau, Ronan Lannuier, Jason Rozas, Derek Ruiz; sophomores Max Bruns, Prahad Rattan, Isaiah Siebers, Kesed Vaughn, and Owen Whitehead; and freshmen Ryan Ahmed, Gustavo Andrade, Dillon Evans, Ben Fornoff, Edwardo Ledesma, and Milan Patel.
Thatcher Eagles
The 15-4 Eagles have wins of 1-0 over Douglas (Nov. 30), 4-1 over Casa Grande Vista Grande (Dec. 2), 2-0 over Kingman Lee Williams (Dec. 2), 5-1 over Parker (Dec. 29), 1-0 over Waddell Canyon View (Dec. 30), 7-0 over Tucson Sabino (Dec. 6), 31 over Coolidge (Dec. 16), 41 over Chandler Prep (Jan. 13), 31 over Tucson Empire (Jan. 19), 3-1 over Tucson Palo Verde Magnet (Jan. 20), 5-1 over Morenci (Jan. 23), 3-2 over Safford (Jan. 24), 7-0 over Tombstone (Jan. 25), and 15-0 over Tucson Andrada Polytechnic (Jan. 31).
The losses are 2-4 to Chandler Valley Christian (Dec. 3), 0-5 to Buckeye Odyssey Institute (Dec. 29), 0-2 to Phoenix NFL Yet (Dec. 30), 4-5 to Sahuarita (Jan. 9),
Thatcher lists four seniors, nine juniors, nine sophomores, and one freshman on its roster. The team includes seniors Ayden Bingham, Sam Dodge, Koye Ferris, and Payson Wright; juniors Mason Cluff, Gene Huish, Blake Kartchner, Mason Mangum, Laethan Nelson, Brigham Nielson, Gavin Rodgers, Ben Schwallier, and Jake Scott; sophomores Kody Bingham, Will Chidester, Crew Ferris, Blake French, Jett Howard, Patrick Nicholas, Brasen Penrod, Cade Winkler, and Callum Winkler; and freshman Luke Marble.
3A State Play-in Round
Play-in round pairings are all scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 2.
The upper bracket has No. 24 Coolidge (7-5 seeding, 1.2263 rating) at No. 9 Phoenix Basis (9-2-1, 6.8227), No. 17 Queen Creek San Tan Foothills (8-4, 2.0434) at No. 16 Scottsdale Prep (8-5, 3.5722), No. 18 Yuma Catholic (6-6-1, 1.7421) at No. 15 Phoenix Veritas Prep (6-4-1, 4.3024), and No. 21 Tonopah Valley (7-5, 1.3485) at No. 12 Florence (9-3, 5.2671).
The lower bracket has No. 22 Benjamin Franklin (7-6, 1.2645) at No. 11 Phoenix NFL Yet (9-3, 5.6926), No. 20 Trivium Prep (8-5-1, 1.4012) at No. 13 Glendale Prep (8-2, 4.7376), No. 19 Avondale Saint Paul II Catholic (7-5-1, 1.5417) at No. 14 Phoenix Bourgade Catholic (6-5-2, 4.3334), and No. 23 Gilbert Arete Prep (6-4-1, 1.2468) at No. 10 Thatcher (10-1, 6.6939).
The top eight teams host play-in round winners for the state meet first round on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The quarterfinals are at the higher seed on Feb. 11, the semifinals at Phoenix Central High, and the championship at Mesa Westwood on Feb. 18.
3A State Top 8 Rankings
Buckeye Odyssey Institute (12-0 seeding, 18.4473) is No. 1, Phoenix Country Day School (11-1, 14.0514) No. 2, Gilbert Christian (11-1, 12.8951) No. 3, Queen Creek American Leadership – Ironwood (9-2, 11.4379) No. 4, Phoenix Northwest Christian (9-3, 10.7701) No. 5, Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian (10-1, 10.2811) No. 6, Chandler Valley Christian (8-2-1, 8.3782) No. 7, and Gilbert Classical (11-1, 8.1143) No. 8.
3A Southeast Region Final Standings
The final region member standings were Thatcher (15-4 overall, 10-1 seeding, 6-0 region), Palo Verde Magnet (5-10-5, 5-5-2, 4-1-1), Safford (10-8, 6-8, 4-2), Empire (9-9-2, 6-5-1, 3-2-1), Andrada Polytechnic (1-9, 1-9, 1-4), Morenci (3-12-1, 2-7-1, 1-4), and Tombstone (1-8, 1-8, 0-6).
Region match results were: Thatcher (6-0) 3-1 over Empire (Jan. 19), 3-1 over Palo Verde Magnet (Jan. 20), 5-1 over Morenci (Jan. 23), 3-2 in overtime over Safford (Jan. 24), 7-0 over Tombstone (Jan. 25), and 15-0 over Andrada Polytechnic (Jan. 31); Palo Verde Magnet (4-1-1) 11-1 over Andrada Polytechnic (Jan. 9), 8-0 over Tombstone (Jan. 17), 4-1 over Safford (Jan. 23), and 4-1 over Morenci (Jan. 31); Safford (4-2) 8-0 over Tombstone (Jan. 8), 8-0 over Morenci (Jan. 20), 5-0 over Andrada Polytechnic (Jan. 25), and 2-1 over Empire (Jan. 31); Empire (3-2-1) 5-0 over Morenci (Jan. 9), 4-0 over Andrada Polytechnic (Jan. 11), and 7-0 over Tombstone (Jan. 23); Andrada Polytechnic (1-4) 3-1 over Tombstone (Jan. 19); Morenci (1-4) 2-0 over Tombstone (Jan. 11); and Tombstone (1-4) 1-0 over Morenci (Dec. 2).
A 2-2 overtime tie resulted in the Empire and Tombstone pairing on Jan. 25.
The state rankings for Southeast Region members as of noon on Jan. 31 were: No. 11 of 55 for Thatcher (10-1 seeding, 6.6939 rating), No. 27 for Empire (6-5-1, minus 1.7463), No. 32 for Safford (6-8, minus 3.8024), No. 34 for Palo Verde Magnet (5-5-2, minus 4.2897), No. 46 for Andrada Polytechnic (1-9, minus 12.0897), No. 49 for Morenci (2-7-1, minus 13.8826), and No. 51 for Tombstone (1-8, minus 15.1931).
