CEDAR CITY — The Region 9 high school boys soccer regular season wrapped up Friday, with the three teams vying for the fourth and final playoff spot all losing their final games.

Additionally, Desert Hills won its final game to finish 11-1, tied with Dixie for Region 9’s best record. The co-champions flipped a coin for the No. 1 playoff seed Friday night, with the Thunder winning the toss. Both top-seeded Desert Hills and second-seeded Dixie will host opening round playoff games next Wednesday.

Cedar, which came into Friday’s game at Desert Hills in fourth place with a 4-7 region record, lost to the Thunder 3-0, but the Redmen will still advance to the 4A playoffs, due to the fact that Canyon View and Pine View also lost their season finales.

Following is a short recap of Friday’s action and a look ahead to the first round of the upcoming playoffs.

Snow Canyon 2, Canyon View 1

In a tight game at Canyon View, the Snow Canyon Warriors prevailed 2-1, eliminating the Falcons from playoff contention.

Snow Canyon’s first goal came with 14 minutes left in the first half, as Jacob Wittwer scored off a corner kick by Dillon Hoskins.

Canyon View managed to tie the game 1-1 with 13 minutes left in the second half, but Snow Canyon got its clinching goal from Cole Warner a few minutes later, assisted by Luis Gamez.

“Canyon View had everything on the line and played very well,” said Snow Canyon assistant coach Marc Wittwer. “They gave us a good game.”

Snow Canyon, which finished the season with an 8-4 record, will enter next week’s playoffs as the No. 3 seed from Region 9. The Warriors’ opening-round game will be at Region 11’s No. 2 seeded team Wednesday at 4 p.m., with the exact opponent to be determined Monday.

Desert Hills 3, Cedar 0

At Desert Hills, the Thunder shut out the Cedar Redmen 3-0, with Ben Simister, Sawyer Heaton and Kai Klingonsmith each scoring a goal. Goalkeeper Preston Hodges picked up his 11th shutout of the season.

As Region 9’s No. 1 seed, Desert Hills will host its opening round game next Wednesday at 4 p.m., against Region 11’s No. 4 seed (either Park City or Stansbury, depending on the outcome of a game on Monday between Ben Lomond and Park City). Cedar will play its first-round game at Region 11’s No. 1 seed on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dixie will host Region 11’s No. 3 seed on Wednesday, with their opponent also to be determined Monday, based on the outcome of the Park City vs. Ben Lomond game. Oddly enough, Park City could land anywhere from the first seed to the fourth seed in Region 11, based on the outcome of Monday’s contest and any necessary tiebreaking coin tosses. 

Hurricane 2, Pine View 1

At Pine View, the visiting Hurricane Tigers picked up their first and only region win of the season while also spoiling the Panthers’ postseason hopes with the 2-1 victory. Kainoa Murdock and Jack Reeve each scored a goal in the first half as Hurricane took a 2-0 halftime lead. The Panthers were held to a single goal by Nelson Flores in the second half.

Region 9 boys soccer final regular season standings (top four teams advance to playoffs)

Desert Hills 11-1 (14-2-1)
Dixie 11-1 (11-1-1)
Snow Canyon 8-4 (8-6)
Cedar 4-8 (4-11)
Canyon View 3-8-1 (5-9-1)
Pine View 3-9 (4-11)
Hurricane 1-10-1 (2-14-1)

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Update April 29, 8 p.m. In Region 11’s final regular season game Monday afternoon, the Park City Miners defeated Ben Lomond 1-0 to finish in a tie with the Scots for the region co-championship. Park City also won the tiebreaker and will host Cedar in Wednesday’s first-round playoff game, while Ben Lomond will host Snow Canyon. Meanwhile, Region 9’s No. 2 seed Dixie will host Ogden on Wednesday and No. 1 seed Desert Hills will host Stansbury, with all first-round games scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

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