Tucson High’s dream season came to an end on Saturday afternoon in heartbreaking fashion.
The No. 1-seeded Badgers fell in a shootout to No. 13 Chandler after playing to a 1-1 draw at Marana High School in the Class 6A state semifinals, blemishing what had been an undefeated season.
Tucson High junior Anthony Berrios called it “the worst feeling.”
“Going undefeated a whole 20-0, and getting a No. 1 seed and everything, beating big teams and coming here and not making a stand of what we did throughout our whole season,” he said.
Badgers coach Bel Haouala said Chandler “had a good plan, they executed, they came down and decided to sit down and counter on us and I think we didn’t play our best.
“I’m not making an excuse … they executed their plan to a T, they were looking for PKs, they didn’t want to play with us, and unfortunately we didn’t create enough chances to win the game.”
Berrios scored in the 11th minute, giving Tucson High a 1-0 lead. Chandler scored the equalizer against the run of play in the 34th minute. It would stay that way through the end of regulation and into overtime and the shootout.
“In the first half we had many chances to finish the game and we just missed every chance we could,” Berrios said. “We scored two offside goals, which I disagree with, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The Badgers sunk their first five kicks in the shootout, with Berrios, junior Luke Skattie, junior Mateo Soto, junior Victor Berrios and junior Ismael Ruiz delivering, then missed their last two.
Tucson High was without its starting goalkeeper for the shootout. Sophomore Alex Cristerna suffered a head injury late in the first half, and sophomore Andrew Miller replaced him.
Miller “did his part; it’s very tough for him to come in and step in a game that he wasn’t expecting to be in, but I thought he did his part and didn’t make any mistake that impacted the result,” Haouala said.
Haouala said he expects the Badgers to be back in the playoff mix next year. Many of the club’s top players are juniors.
And despite the sparkling win-loss record, Houala said he was proudest of something else.
“Overall I think the highlight of the season was kids who used to be ineligible and now they’re eligible because they just want to be a part of the team,” Haouala said. “At the end of the day, that’s what we’re looking for. It’s school, and they’re students first and athletes second.”
