Kofa’s young strikers lead Kings to state semi-finals

Kings stun #4 seed Campo Verde on the road, face top seeded Ironwood next

GILBERT, Ariz. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - After a scoreless first half in the state AIA class 5A boys soccer quarterfinal between Kofa and Campo Verde, it was the Kings who scored first with just under 19 minutes left to play in regulation.

"I think it was the adjustments we made in the first half that helped us," Kings head coach Jamie Nicewander said. "We were subbing often, we had a lot of guys get hurt, a lot. It was a very very physical match."

Sophomore striker Andres Anaya got the broke the scoreless tie slicing between two defenders and beating the goalie on the far side of the net. Aaron Sullivan assisted on the goal for the Kings.

"It was a great pass from Aaron to Andy and Andy buried the shot. It looked like it was on the outside of his foot as a matter of fact," Nicewander said. "A great shot from a junior to a sophomore."

Kofa added a second goal with just under six minutes to play in regulation. Aaron Alvarez sailed a corner kick wide of the net. The ball in tracked down by the Kings Tiernan Nicewander who worked the endline, got by three defenders to find freshman Leo Rodriguez in front of the net.

"I'll give the credit to T," Freshman Leo Rodriguez said. "He made the play, he went inline and I was just there to tap it in."

"At that moment we knew we were probably going to win this game," Nicewander said. "We knew they were still going to have some fight in them and sure enough, right away they played a ball long, ref called a PK, it happens sometimes."

Campo Verde converted on the PK to cut the Kings lead to 2-1. Kofa was able to hang on and now advance to the state semi-finals against top seeded Ironwood on Tuesday night.

We're excited to represent Yuma and we're ready for the next game

Kofa head coach Jamie Nicewander

"Our keeper Diego Valadez did a great job all game," Nicewander said. "He probably dislocated his finger right before the game today. We'll have to get that looked at now but the trainer popped it back in place. He's just a tough kid. It's a credit to the boys, good for them and they allowed me to push them hard."