No club? No problem for Sunnyside soccer star

Sunnyside boys soccer midfielder Israel Luquez Jr. doesn’t play for a club outside of high school, but apparently doesn’t need to.

Luquez was first team All-6A South last year as a sophomore and started as a freshman for a Blue Devils side that went 23-1-1.

Luquez is the latest star for a Sunnyside program that has produced players of late like Eythan Mancilla and Fernando Hernández. Mancilla, a sophomore defender for Pima College, was named NJCAA All-American a couple weeks ago. Hernández debuted for Club León in Mexico’s professional first division last month. He played for Sunnyside in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Sunnyside head coach Casey O’Brien said Luquez is amazing.

“I think he's kind of undervalued, underrated, but his technical skills, his ability, his IQ, the way that he works, he's a rare player; we’ve got a lot of good players at Sunnyside over the years — All-Americans, we have a kid playing professionally in Mexico — and honestly, he stacks up with the best here,” O’Brien said. “So, I just think of how comfortable he is on the ball, how creative he is.

“Every game we've played in, I've had a college coach literally reach out to me the next day asking me, ‘who is that kid?’ so, you kind of know you got something special when higher level coaches are always asking you about the same guy,” he added. “His passing ability is phenomenal and I think maybe the reason he's underrated is because a lot of people like stats.”

As of press time, Luquez is tied for first on the team in assists per game, 1.0, but O’Brien says his worth can’t be measured in stats alone.

“Basically, he does everything in the middle of the field to be conducive for us to be able to score, to be able to defend,” O’Brien said. “I mean in terms of a soccer player, he's just a complete package.”

Luquez has 1.4 points per game, but he’d like more goals.

“Personally my year has gone OK so far, a couple assists,” Luquez said. “I’m still looking to score though, we’ve, we won most of our games, of course.”

As of press time, Sunnyside is off to a 9-1 start. Its only loss was Ironwood Ridge, 3-2, at the Brandon Bean Tournament to start the season, but it rebounded to win the tourney, including a 1-0 victory over the host Salpointe Catholic in the semifinals.

O’Brien says the squad is young, with six seniors, eight juniors, five sophomores and one freshman, but Luquez’s skill and starting experience helped offset that.

“So that's the cool thing is that he's one of the rare players that started for us as a freshman," O'Brien said. "Since I've been here, I wanna say that's only happened four times, so he's one of the four, which is pretty crazy. Last year as a sophomore, he started every single game, he was All-Region and I believe he was pretty close to getting All-6A, as well, so him being that experienced and being a junior is exciting because obviously he's going to have one more year here and he's going to be able to grow. And we're young … we had that early setback, but the fact that we're young, we've been able to fix it and we've been able to get better.”

O’Brien has been the Blue Devils’ coach since 2015. Last year, Sunnyside went 21-4 and reached the Open quarterfinals, where it fell 2-1 to Phoenix Pinnacle after overtime.

“So I think us being young is a positive because we're only going to get better, we’re not like at our peak,” O’Brien said. “Last year, we were senior-heavy. I think we peaked early.

“We had a phenomenal season, but we obviously didn't make it as far as we wanted to in the playoffs. So I think this year we have the ability to just continue getting better and kids like Israel that are juniors are the ones that are going to make that change.”

Luquez has risen to prominence despite not playing for a club team right now. With the big schools’ soccer season going from late November to February, top youth soccer players normally hone their skills with club play outside of the winter.

Luquez said it doesn’t really hurt him because they practice so much.

“Sunnyside is basically a home, like this is where I get my practices in,” Luquez said. “We practice almost every day of the week, so for me, there's not really a need to join a club.”

While other schools take time off over winter break or other sports take off for fall or spring break, Sunnyside soccer doesn’t. The day after Christmas, the Blue Devils went to the Holiday Extravaganza Soccer Tournament hosted by Mesa Dobson.

Most elite high school-aged players are on a club, but Sunnyside kids often don’t need to. The Blue Devils’ Undrstmtd uniforms feature a crest with a mascot that looks more like Manchester United’s red devil than a cartoon Sparky and says “Sunnyside Fútbol Club.”

“Well, it's kind of funny because there's like a 0% chance of that happening, you know, but we've had that with quite a few of our guys where they're not club players, but they end up going and playing in college,” O’Brien said about potential All-State players not being on clubs. “We have a kid at Pima right now that didn't play club, and he’s first team All-American, so I think that it's definitely something, the fact that we're year-round and we take it so serious, we train so hard.

“I think that this is probably the only place in Arizona where you could just be a soccer player at high school and still be relevant in the state, but for it to be at the level that he's at, I would say that's rare, you know, as a junior just because he's grown so fast.”

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The cost for club soccer for elite players has risen substantially. FC Tucson Youth competitive plays in a division with clubs from places like Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.

“It's pretty intense, man,” O’Brien said. “I would want to say even if you have a scholarship, it's probably $5,000 to $10,000 a year. (If) you don't have a scholarships, probably $10,000 to $20,000 a year.”

Luquez previously played club under his dad, who is an assistant for Sunnyside, along with his uncle. His cousin, senior defender Carlos Hernandez, is also a starter for SSHS.

On the pitch, Luquez plays in the 8 or 10 role for the Blue Devils, acting as a playmaker and patrolling the field from one penalty box to the other.

“I like it, it’s like mostly my style, touching the ball, technique or just dribbling, finding the through ball,” Luquez said.

He’s not just filling in where Sunnyside needs him, it’s his preferred position.

“It’s always been my favorite position,” Luquez said. “It’s the most tiring one for me, but it's always, most like where I get the one and everything.”

O’Brien said being the son of a “fantastic” coach has helped the younger Israel Luquez a lot.

“He's a very smart coach, he understands the game, the cool thing is, obviously, he doesn't focus on Nipi (his son), he focuses on the team,” O’Brien said.

“And I think that for Nipi, it's just nice having like family support because again, a kid that's shy, it's nice to have your dad around, his uncle’s here, he coaches here, too, his cousin’s on the team, so like their family is all involved in this program.

“So I think that that's really cool for Nipi because I think it makes him comfortable and when he's comfortable it's good because he comes out of his shell a little bit.”

The Nipi nickname has long been with Luquez, like soccer.

“It's from my grandma, like when I was really little, I don't really remember,” Luquez said. “But everyone in my family started calling me that and then it ended up spreading to like everyone."

Fast Five with Israel

When did you start playing soccer?

Since I was 4, but I stopped playing for three years, ages 10 to 13.

What’s been your favorite soccer memory so far?

Winning the Brandon Bean this year or winning the (Arizona Soccer Showcase hosted by Chandler Hamilton), my freshman year.

Who’s the soccer GOAT to you, is it Messi? Cristiano?

Messi.

Who do you think is going to win the World Cup coming up?

Spain but Mexico I hope, obviously.

What's your favorite subject in school?

I’d say math, it's probably the hardest, but I enjoy it the most.