Desert Vista may want to schedule Senior Night more often.

The annual tradition honors seniors during their final regular season home game of their high school careers. On a night that Desert Vista started 11 seniors for the first time this season, the Thunder rolled to a 5-0 thumping of the Open Division's top-ranked team, Pinnacle.

Monday’s match featured teams contending for top Open bracket seeds with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. Pinnacle hadn’t lost a match and won the Holiday Extravaganza Soccer Tournament, defeating another Open contender, Sunnyside, in that tournament’s final.

Desert Vista also was unbeaten in its power ranking schedule but did tie Basha and Shadow Ridge earlier in its season. But against Pinnacle, on a chilly night, Desert Vista warmed up quickly thanks to Will Ahumada’s header right after a corner kick eight minutes into the match.

In the 16th minute, Jack Hardy made it 2-0 after finishing off a cross from the left flank. Desert Vista tacked on three more goals (by Avery Gubac, Dominic Crisci, Max Morrison) in the second half.

Four of Desert Vista’s goals were scored by seniors. On the defensive side, the Thunder became the first group to shutout Pinnacle (13-1-2) this season, recording the team’s eighth shutout in the process.

At 12-3-3, Desert Vista appears more than capable of making a run during the inaugural Open soccer division of the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

“I’m just proud of our guys for stepping up on Senior Night,” Desert Vista’s eight-year coach Trent Elliott said. “There’s a lot going on. They warmed up differently (since the team started 11 seniors). There were a lot of outside factors. But when they got to the field they took care of business.”

Elliott added that there’s still some business to take care of, as the Thunder may still need to defeat Corona del Sol next week to likely win the 6A Central Region title.

They’ll wrap up their regular season with a Feb. 7 match at Sunnyslope before the chase for Desert Vista’s sixth ring really begins.

“It really motivated us that it was Senior Night,” said Hardy, who also tallied two goals. “It was a big day for all of us today.

“We’re beginning to step it up now where we are all performing as one.”