Region 9 boys soccer: Dixie, Snow Canyon finish in tie for region title; playoff pairings announced

Written by Rich Allen
April 28, 2021
Dixie soccer's Jorge Quintero looks for a center at Pine View, Pine View High School, St. George, Utah, April 27, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The Dixie Flyers are the 2021 Region 9 boys soccer champions.

Dixie soccer at Pine View, Pine View High School, St. George, Utah, April 27, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

After seven weeks of regional competition, the Flyers and Snow Canyon Warriors emerged with identical 12-2 records. The problem for the Warriors is their two losses came against Dixie in a pair of overtime heartbreakers, giving Dixie the advantage in the tie break.

Both teams swept through the final week of the season. Dixie toppled another No. 1 contender in Crimson Cliffs before besting Pine View on Tuesday to clinch the title. The Warriors beat Cedar on Friday before taking down Crimson as well.

Elsewhere, the Desert Hills Thunder played up to a tie for third with a Mustangs with identical 10-4 records. No other team in Region 9 secured a winning record.

With the regular season concluded, the state playoffs and final Ratings Percentage Index rankings were released.

Dixie soccer at Pine View, Pine View High School, St. George, Utah, April 27, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

Dixie finished at No. 3 with Snow Canyon right behind to lead Southern Utah teams in 4A. The top four regional teams all secured first-round byes while Cedar City foes Cedar and Canyon View will meet in round one on Friday. The schedule for the first two rounds of the tournament can be found below. The full playoff bracket can be found here.

Here are recaps from the action from the final week of the Region 9 boys soccer season:

Tuesday’s games

Dixie 3, Pine View 1

The Flyers clinched the top seed with a swift road victory over Pine View. Dixie’s Rene Bernal started the scoring just over 13 minutes into the game,  going left side from deep in the box for the lone score of the first half. Just a mere 21 seconds into the second, however, Jorge Quintero doubled the lead by dancing in front of the Pine View back line and finding a gap. Kamden Rocha added a third by dribbling his way from the left flank in front of the net, parting a pair of Panthers d-men in the process. He found space in the middle of field to drive one home.

Pine View got a goal off a rebound from a free kick given for Dixie’s keeper Carson Greer picking up the ball outside the goalie box. Greer made three saves in the win.

Bernal and Easton Ellett were credited with assists during the contest.

Snow Canyon 2, Crimson Cliffs 1

The Warriors got some depth scoring to clinch a tie for the best record in region play. Brock Schroeder and Brayan Hernandez scored for Snow Canyon with assists from Jake Wittwer and Sanders Esplin, the usual scoring suspects. Snow Canyon led 1-0 at the half. Ramon Mitchell Squires scored for Crimson Cliffs in the second half with an assist from Peter Butterfield.

Desert Hills 4, Hurricane 0

At Hurricane, the Desert Hills Thunder rolled to a shutout win over the Tigers, as Bridger Heaton scored two goals and recorded an assist. Dan Simister and Gage Lewis each added one goal. Goalkeeper Josh Greer earned the shutout.

Cedar 5, Canyon View 0

At Canyon View, the Falcons battled their in-town rivals Cedar Reds closely in the first half, but Cedar’s Drake Olsen beat goalkeeper Brock Marsh to a deflected ball in the 36th minute, knocking it into the net for a 1-0 halftime lead. In the second half, the Reds gradually wore down the Falcon defense and scored four more goals, including another one by Olsen as time expired.  Also scoring for Cedar were Tristan Yapi, Edgar Arana and Isaac Fletcher. Goalkeeper Dagan Murray picked up the shutout.

Drake Olsen of Cedar beats Canyon View goalkeeper Brock Marsh for the first score of the game, Cedar at Canyon View, Cedar City, Utah, April 27, 2021 | Photo courtesy of Eric Fieldsted, St. George News / Cedar City News

The two teams will meet again in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on Friday, with No. 14 Cedar hosting No. 19 Canyon View at 4 p.m.

Friday’s games

Dixie 2, Crimson Cliffs 1

Kamden Rocha and Briggs McLauchlin scored and Jorge Quintero had an assist to lift Dixie to a road win. The Flyers entered the second half leading 1-0. Tyler Moon scored an unassisted goal for Crimson to pull within one. Carlos Diaz made nine saves for Dixie in the victory.

Pine View 2, Hurricane 0

Austin Kogan and Nelson Flores scored first-half goals to carry the Panthers to a road victory. Kaden Cox was credited with a shutout. No assists were credited in the contest.

Snow Canyon 2, Cedar 1

At Cedar, the Warriors outlasted the Reds in a tight contest. Snow Canyon led 1-0 at halftime, with Jake Wittwer drilling a free kick late in the first half to put the Warriors on the board.

“We had to make a few adjustments at halftime,” said Snow Canyon coach Zac Hales. “Luckily, the boys were able to come out and perform really well. We got an early goal in the first part of the second half, which took some pressure off us.”

“Cedar is a tough place to come and play, and I’m just happy we were able to come away with the victory. They had a couple late chances to tie it on us.”

Damon Lund scored Snow Canyon’s second goal, while Mason Palmer found the net for Cedar.

Desert Hills 6, Canyon View 0

At Canyon View, the Desert Hills Thunder shut out the Falcons, with Bridger Heaton netting four goals and picking up an assist. Josh Greer got the shutout at goalkeeper. Also scoring for the Thunder were Ben Eakins and Gage Lewis.

Friday’s first-round playoff schedule 

  • No. 16 Logan vs. No. 17 Pine View, 4 p.m.
  • No. 15 Uintah vs. No. 18 Hurricane, 4 p.m.
  • No. 14 Cedar vs. No. 19 Canyon View, 4 p.m.

Round two playoff schedule (May 5)

  • No. 3 Dixie vs. No. 19 Canyon View/No. 14 Cedar, 4 p.m.
  • No. 4 Snow Canyon vs. No. 13 Ben Lomond/No. 20 Tooele, 4 p.m.
  • No. 6 Crimson Cliffs vs. No. 11 Ridgeline, 4 p.m.
  • No. 7 Mountain Crest vs. No. 10 Desert Hills, 4 p.m.
  • No. 1 Juan Diego Catholic vs. No. 17 Pine View (with Pine View round one win), 4 p.m.
  • No. 2 Green Canyon vs. No. 18 Hurricane (with Hurricane round one win), 4 p.m.

Region 9 boys soccer final regular season standings

  1. Dixie 12-2 (12-3) RPI: 3rd
  2. Snow Canyon 12-2 (12-3) RPI: 4th
  3. Crimson Cliffs 10-4 (12-5) RPI: 6th
  4. Desert Hills 10-4 (10-6) RPI: 10th
  5. Cedar 5-9 (7-10) RPI: 14th
  6. Pine View 3-11 (4-12) RPI: 17th
  7. Hurricane 3-11 (3-12) RPI: 18th
  8. Canyon View 1-13 (1-13) RPI: 19th

St. George News reporter JEFF RICHARDS contributed to this story.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rich joined St. George News in October 2020. The Colorado native graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver in December 2018, where he was a sports and managing editor at the student publication, The Metropolitan. He worked as a media relations assistant for the minor league baseball club New Orleans Baby Cakes in 2019.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @RAllenSTGNews@STGnews

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