Region 10 boys soccer: Desert Hills hands Crimson Cliffs its 1st loss

Written by E. George Goold
March 19, 2022
Desert Hills and Crimson Cliffs in a Region 10 boys soccer game, St. George, Utah, March 18, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Region 10’s high school boys soccer teams just getting into their region schedules and action on the pitch is already heating up.

Following are summaries from this week’s Region 10 games, which was the first week of the regular season.

Friday’s games

Desert Hills 2, Crimson Cliffs 1

The Thunder and Mustangs engaged in a vigorous renewal of their rivalry in a hard-fought contest at Desert Hills.

The game featured the handing out of a red and a yellow card, a penalty kick, some hard fouls and tough defensive play.

Desert Hills junior Shayden Scott scored the winning goal and assisted the Thunder’s first tally to lead the way for the winners.

“Every win in the region this year is going to be big,” Thunder coach Benji Nelson told St. George News. “I think every team has picked up their program to where they’ve got better teams. Every win is going to count in the playoff seedings so we’re grateful to get a win tonight.”

Players on both squads are familiar with one another from club teams and that makes these rivalry games mean a little bit more. That was obvious when the intensity of play really picked up in the second half.

“There’s a good rivalry here, ever since they opened up,” Nelson said. “Crimson has an awesome team. They played very well. Luckily we got our goals and walked away with a win tonight.”

Desert Hills junior Dan Simister (2) maneuvers for a scoring strike against Crimson Cliffs in a Region 10 boys soccer game, St. George, Utah, March 18, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Dan Simister got the Thunder on the scoreboard first. He collected a ball from Scott near midfield and then charged hard to the goal. Simister ran to his left, twirled, and fired a shot from just outside the top of the box.

Mustangs goalkeeper Dade Macdonald got his hands on the ball but he couldn’t stop it from dribbling into the goal for a 1-0 Thunder lead with just under 10 minutes left in the first half.

Desert Hills got a tremendous save from Devon Benson right before halftime. The junior keeper dove to his right and punched the ball safely away before it could go into the top corner of the cage.

Crimson Cliffs attacked with furious vengeance to open the second half, finally finding the back of the net when junior striker Camden Squires banged home the equalizer off a rebound.

Both teams had chances as the time in the second half ticked away.

Then Desert Hills got the winner off a corner kick. Harry Echohawk delivered a magnificent cross to the middle of the box, where Scott scored a solid header into the wide open right side of the goal.

“We’re short on seniors, we’re a little bit young,” Nelson said. “So as the season goes on we’re going to get better and better, and we’ll be making a run here with several of these other teams for a region trophy.”

Cedar 3, Pine View 0

At Pine View, the Cedar Reds scored once in the first half and added two more goals in the second half to pick up the 3-0 shutout win over the Panthers. Scoring goals for Cedar were Maddox Prisbey, Corbin Demille and Jacob Barrick.

Dixie 4, Hurricane 1

At Dixie, the Flyers got goals from four different players in a home win over the Tigers. Sophomore Trevor Clayton got Hurricane’s lone goal in the second half.

Tuesday’s games

Snow Canyon 4, Hurricane 0

At Hurricane, the Warriors scored three goals in the second half to post a convincing win over the Tigers. Four different Snow Canyon players each scored one goal, while senior goalkeeper Xavier Pinna recorded the shutout.

Dixie 3, Desert Hills 1

At Desert Hills, the Dixie Flyers got two goals from Jorge Quintero and another from Iker Meza, as the Flyers came away with a 3-1 victory.

Crimson Cliffs 2, Cedar 0

At Cedar, the visiting Mustangs scored once in each half while holding the Reds scoreless. Ryan Wooley and Scotty McKittrick each netted a goal for Crimson Cliffs, while goalkeeper Dade MacDonald picked up the shutout.

Region 10 boys soccer standings, as of March 19

  1. Dixie, 2-0 (4-0)
  2. Snow Canyon, 1-0 (3-1)
  3. Crimson Cliffs, 1-1 (4-1)
  4. Desert Hills, 1-1 (3-2)
  5. Cedar 1-1, (3-2)
  6. Pine View 0-1, (3-2)
  7. Hurricane, 0-2 (2-3)

Cedar City News reporter JEFF RICHARDS contributed to this story.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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