Skyhawks slip past Mountain Ridge

While Deer Valley senior Matt Walberer will get credit for two goals Tuesday night, in his mind those tallies should go to someone else – sophomore Cori Zimmerman.

”Cori Zimmerman had two great assists tonight,” Walberer said. “Those were his goals. He built them up perfectly and I just knocked them in.”

Walberer’s two goals helped Deer Valley get past region rival Mountain Ridge (1-6, 1-1) Tuesday, 3-1. While the win keeps the Skyhawks cemented in first place in the Northwest Region, the question remains will it be enough to give them a push up the 5A-II power rankings.

Deer Valley (5-1, 2-0) is ranked No. 14 despite its 5-1 record (not including tournament games). The Skyhawks, along with Desert Mountain, are the only teams with one loss ranked outside of the top 10, while schools like No. 5 Sunnyside, No. 6 Mountain View (Marana) and No. 12 Ironwood Ridge are slotted ahead of them. Those three schools boast 4, 4 and 5 losses, respectively.

”(The power rankings) are like the BCS,” said Deer Valley coach Rick Anderson referring to college football’s Bowl Championship Series rankings. “It’s a mystery (why we’re so low) since we only have one loss. But we can’t worry about things we can’t control, we just have to play our game.”

It took the Skyhawks some time to get into their game Tuesday night, Rick Anderson said. While Deer Valley sustained offensive pressure for much of the first half, they were unable to control the ball deep allowing the Mountain Lion defenders to clear the zone time after time.

That changed at the 31-minute mark as the Skyhawks drove with a three-on-three attack, working the ball to junior Daniel Contrerrez on the wing who took the shot but Mountain Ridge senior goal keeper Spencer Anderson stopped the attempt.

However, Conterrez received a second chance two minutes later.

A downfield pass opened another three-on-three for Deer Valley, and Contrerrez had time to find the angle he wanted off the left wing. With Spencer Anderson leaning to the right, Contrerrez went to the right corner high side and floated just over the out-stretched arm of the Mountain Ridge goal keeper.

”We didn’t come out well before that first goal, but we did better shooting the ball later on,” Rick Anderson said. “We missed a lot of shots tonight and really didn’t match their intensity until the second half. (Mountain Ridge) is a very good team and you can’t miss those scoring opportunities like we did early on.”

Holding a tenuous 1-0 lead at the start of the second half, the Skyhawks earned some breathing room quickly on Walberer’s first goal of the night at the 34-minute mark. Cori Zimmerman took the ball near the center line and drove deep into Mountain Lions’ territory, drawing a pair of defenders. The sophomore then pushed the ball through the defense to Walberer on the right wing who scored for a 2-0 lead.

”I call him the difference maker,” Rick Anderson said. “That’s the type of ball player he is, and that’s what you need, someone who will go out there and get you goals.”

With time winding down, Mountain Ridge showed more urgency and pressed the attack into the Skyhawks zone. Junior forward Connor Ray missed a scoring chance as his kick rolled wide left and moments later senior Jacob Schrier nearly cut the lead with a shot from the top of the box, but Deer Valley goal keeper Francisco Marmolejo timed his jump and came down with the save.

The Mountain Lions finally cut the lead in half at the 13-minute mark. Off a penalty kick, Schrier pulled the ball to the left and senior Danny Kinstler got a head on the ball, directing it past Marmolejo into the left corner for Mountain Ridge’s lone tally.

”I thought we played pretty well,” said Mountain Ridge coach Doug Evans. “We kept ourselves in the game and really had a chance until they scored that other goal.”

That “other goal” was Walberer’s second, after missing two wide-open shots minutes before, and a back-breaker for the Mountain Lions. Taking a pass from Cori Zimmerman, Walberer rushed forward, meeting Spencer Anderson. The Mountain Ridge goal keeper got a foot on the ball, but Walberer’s attempt bounced forward, nicked the cross bar and rolled in.

Ranked No. 29 in the power rankings, but sporting a 1-1 record in the Northwest region, Evans said the loss hurts but by no means kills Mountain Ridge’s season.

”We can’t give up,” Evans said. “We still have a shot at region but we’ll need some help with the power rankings to make state after this loss. We just haven’t lived up to how we thought we’d play this season.”