ST. GEORGE – The young Dixie Flyers rallied past Desert Hills to earn a sweep of the two-game series this season. Snow Canyon also won to stay just ahead of the Flyers in the standings. And Pine View’s win over Hurricane puts the Panthers in prime position to claim a playoff spot. Here’s a recap:
Dixie 3, Desert Hills 2
The Flyers fell behind in the first minute but rallied and defeated D-Hills 3-2 on Conner Buehner’s goal off a Tyler Bennett cross in the 30th minute of the second half.
Flyer goalkeeper Bridger Wright turned away a couple of Thunder shots and got help from his defense over the final 10 minutes of play.
“Bridger did a great job,” Dixie coach Burt Myers said of his second-half goalkeeper. He also praised the play of Mikey Haug, Jace Bennett Kortland Warnick and Jesse Wilkinson in the defensive backfield.
Myers also noted that Av’ry Green had a key save with a header late in the game.
“Our seniors did a great job providing us leadership,” he added.
With the win, Dixie improves to 6-1-0, three points behind league-leader Snow Canyon. Desert Hills is 4-3-0 and in third place. Snow Canyon defeated Cedar to remain undefeated at 7-0-0.
Desert Hills scored 33 seconds into the match when Rocky Bunker fired a pass from Jake Simister into the goal. The Thunder got off a couple more scoring chances, but Dixie’s Ethan Poulton knocked one over the goal and stopped the other.
Dixie leveled the match when Cristian Chavez scored off a Tyler Bennett assist in the 31st minute of the first half.
Desert Hills led 2-1 after Christian Cottle scored off a Kanon Heaton corner kick in the 34th minute.
That goal came after a couple of Dixie players got their foot on the ball but were unable to get it away from the Thunder players.
Dixie evened the game again in the 33rd minute when Tauri Morales scored off a corner kick.
After the Flyers went ahead for good, the two goalkeepers – Wright and Isaiah Hacker – took turns making saves.
“I thought we possessed the ball better, but we didn’t break through and get the goals,” said Desert Hills coach Benji Nelson. He credited Dixie’s defense with some of that success.
“It was a very evenly-matched, physical soccer match,” Nelson said.
Snow Canyon 2, Cedar 0
Angel Muniz scored both goals for the Warriors with Yetzel Carillo getting both assists. Braden Brough got the shutout.
“Cedar played really well,” said Snow Canyon coach Marc Wittwer. “The game could have gone either way.”
“We had great play from Joaquin Flores, Jorge Cuara, Jake Nelson and Will Regalado,” Wittwer noted.
Abe Brower had a header toward an empty net just slide over the crossbar, coach Scott Kamachi of Cedar (0-6-1) said. “We are looking for some success in the next three games to make it into the playoffs,” he added.
Pine View 4, Hurricane 2
Kalob Dudley had a pair of goals for the Panthers (2-5-0) while Michael Cardenas and Angel Gaona had the others. Jaden Stone and Tate Langston scored for the Tigers (1-5-1).
Friday’s games will include Cedar at Pine View, Hurricane at Dixie and Snow Canyon at Desert Hills
Region 9 Standings
Snow Canyon 7-0-0, 10-3-1
Dixie 5-2-0, 8-3-1
Desert Hills 4-3-0, 10-3-0
Pine View 2-5-0, 5-8-0
Hurricane 1-5-1, 3-8-1
Cedar 0-6-1, 3-8-2
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