San Luis High School boys soccer presented with state sportsmanship award

SAN LUIS, Ariz. – This year's winner of the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) 6A Conference Sportsmanship Award is the San Luis High School (SLHS) varsity boys soccer team.

The award is given yearly at each conference to the team that performed at the highest level of sportsmanship, voted by game officials.

On Feb. 24, the team was honored during halftime of the boys soccer state championship game versus Desert Vista and Chandler.

“Anytime we can get recognized for the amazing things we do here at San Luis we are honored and proud,” SLHS Athletic Director David Barrios said. “Coach [Jesus] Rojas does an incredible job with his program of emphasizing hard work to achieve success on the field, but also hard work to build character to achieve success off the field and in the future."

Throughout the past two regular seasons, the Sidewinders concluded with an undefeated record in power-point games.

The 2022 season finished with a quarterfinal loss to Hamilton High School after beating Westwood, 9-1 in the opening round of state playoffs.

"When someone notices this level of sportsmanship, whether it is an official, opposing team, spectator or family member, it reassures the type of culture we want our students to embody when they participate in SLHS athletics. In this case, we appreciate all the AIA officials that support athletics in the community and hope that we can continue to pursue victory with honor," said Barrios.

The second-round exit resulted in a championship game loss to Brophy Prep in 2021.

Coach Rojas was a SLHS varsity soccer player for two seasons over a decade ago. He just completed his fifth year with the team as head coach.

He is planning to bring back almost 20 players from this season's roster into the 2022-23 season.