Snow Canyon High
After a big win, there’s always the potential for a layoff.
After Snow Canyon took down Desert Hills in a tight overtime contest on Tuesday, the Warriors didn’t let up as they cruised past Hurricane on Friday night 4-0 at Warrior Stadium.
Holding midfielder Kolton Barber scored a hat trick, and SC’s defense limited the Tigers to just two scoring chances.
“Defensively, I thought we were solid,” SC coach Marc Wittwer said.
Both sides were physical and scrappy from the outset, which resulted in a lot of fouls, yellow cards and missed passes.
As a result, neither side could control the possession and fashion many solid chances in open play.
“Possession, we definitely need to work on that. Sometimes we try to go too forward too quickly with the ball,” Wittwer said.
But the Warriors took advantage where the Tigers didn’t: set plays.
Three of SC’s four goals came from set plays. Barber scored with his head off a Angel Muniz corner kick in the 13th minute, then headed in Muniz’s free kick in the 36th minute.
“That’s the best we’ve looked all season with set pieces on both sides of the ball; it’s not been a strength for us,” Wittwer said.
Hurricane had free kicks of its own in dangerous areas, but couldn’t quite deliver a good enough cross.
Tigers coach Jeff Fry lamented his side’s defending on set plays, but gave credit to the Warriors.
“Kudos to Snow Canyon because every one of their set plays was a perfect ball, it was a perfect location for them to be able to attack,” Fry said.
Barber bagged his hat trick with a good finish from 18 yards out off the inside of the far post in the 46th minute.
Maxwell Kemp took a pass on the right side then flicked it into Barber’s path and Barber made no mistake from there.
Hurricane’s best chance came in the 62nd minute.
Leading scorer Tate Langston took a long-distance shot that deflected off an SC defender and right to Dan Brubaker, whose low shot from just inside the box was nicely saved by Quinn Hargis.
Barber doesn’t usually score goals, but said there wasn’t too much to it.
“Having the right guys, being in the right place at the right time,” Barber said.
Muniz scored the Warriors’ fourth with a free kick in the final few minutes that took a couple deflections and careened off a Tiger defender’s shin into the roof of net.
Snow Canyon plays Dixie on Tuesday in a battle of undefeated teams.
Desert Hills 3, Cedar 2 (F/2OT)
The Thunder ended their two-game winning streak by beating Cedar in a back-and-forth game on the road.
Desert Hills’ last overtime game was a loss against the Warriors, but the Thunder responded Friday on a rainy, windy night in Cedar City.
Hunter Spray scored twice, including the game-winner in double overtime. Christian Cottle opened the scoring for DHHS in the first half.
Dixie 4, Pine View 3
The Flyers’ unbeaten start to Region 9 is intact, but only just. Dixie led 2-0 at halftime and pushed the lead to 3-0 in the second half.
The Panthers scored a penalty kick to make it 3-1, then the Flyers lead was 4-1 before PV smashed two quick goals in to make it 4-3. It made for a nervy end to game Dixie otherwise thought was in the bag earlier on.
Av’ry Green, Christian Chavez, Trey Hoskins and Jose Morales all scored for the Flyers.
Alex Rodriguez, Jose Gaona and Kalob Dudley scored for the Panthers.
Region 9 Soccer Standings
T-1. Snow Canyon 4-0
T-1. Dixie 4-0
2. Desert Hills 2-2
T-3. Hurricane 1-3
T-3. Pine View 1-3
4. Cedar 0-4
Follow Patrick Carr on Twitter @patrickcarr_ and on Facebook at facebook.com/patrickjosephcarr1, use the hashtag #region9preps to follow along with Patrick’s work on social media.
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