Campo Verde boys, Basha girls take Dobson Soccer titles

December 31, 2012 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Campo Verde's Sam Gleadle picked up where he left off in the semifinals on Monday at the Dobson Mustang Soccer Classic.

Gleadle scored twice two minutes apart late in the first half and the Coyotes went on to topple Cesar Chavez, 4-1, in the championship match of the tournament at Dobson High.

Gleadle, a junior, found the back of the net twice in a 2-1 semifinal win over Dobson last Saturday. The second goal that day came in the final five miniutes and was the game winner. Gleadle got an assist from younger brother,  Luke, on the fiirst goal Monday in the 35th minute. The hustling forward scored again in the 37th minute as he recovered a ball near the front of the box and beat Chavez keeper Papa Seck, who couldn't get back fast enough from a play out front to defend the shot.

"Sam can finish," Campo Verde coach Drew Guarneri said. "The other kids around him do the dirty work. I think he's the best player in Division II. He's quick and has a good turn."

Campo Verde (14-1-1) got a brief challenge from Chavez early in the second half. In the 45th minute Chavez's Irbyn Cortez got behind the defense for a suprisingly easy goal to make it 2-1. A minute later, however, a cross from Peyton Oyler to Anthony Arellano was converted pushing the lead back to two.

"We had a defensive lapse on their goal," Guarneri said. "But we settled in and didn't let them create after that."

Arellano, a bulky senior midifielder, was fouled and went down hard near midifleld in the 54th minute. Arellano dusted himself off and trudged  to the box. He ended up in perfect position to receive Devin Ries free kick from midfield and tallied with a header to close out the scoring.

GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP

Campo Verde's girls tried to makle it a school sweep of the tournment titles Monday afernoon, but fell short against Basha (7-5-1) thanks to two early first-half goals. Jazmarie Mader and Destini Soares did the damage for Basha as the Bears prevailed, 2-0.The loss was the first of the year for Campo Verde (13-1) and a good chunk of program-buliding for Basha coach Greg Johnson and his squad.

Mader made it 1-0 in the 12th minute as Basha got a break and converted. Camp Verde keeper Brittney Cantino made a save at the goal-mouth, then dropped the shot. Mader was right there to knock it home before Cantino could recover it.

Seven minutes later Soares tallied, nailing a cross from Bailey Jenkins from five yards out to make it 2-0. Basha keeper Tiana Pretzer and the rest of the Bears defense were solid. Campo Verde's Shannon Costello came the closest to scoring for the Coyotes, hitting the cross bar in the 62nd minute. Pretzer corraled a half-dozen or so other shots.

Johnson, who coached at Dobson for 11 years, never got to hoist the championship trophy in his stint with the Mustangs. He was around to hand the trophy to others. Johnson liked seeing a trend that developed after an initial pool-play loss to Mesa High, continue in the title match.

"We came out  and scored four goals in about 16 minutes against Desert Ridge and got a goal in about four minute against Mountain View," Johnson said. "Getting one seven or eight minutes in and then another was big....."

"The program (Basha) has no tradition or history so winning this can be one of those pieces that builds some."

Campo Verde surrendered just two goals in the tournament prior to Monday's final. The biggest deficit it faced in a game was one goal.

"They capitalized on our mistakes," Campo Verde coach Rosie Headley said. "We had a game earlier this year against Kofa in the Desert Ridge tournament and were down 1-0. We scored twice in the last four minutes to win that one. Couldn't get a goal today for the first time."