By Don Ketchum

The boys soccer team from Buckeye Verrado can accomplish something on that none has achieved in the young history of the school – win a state championship.

The Vipers, sparked by Carlos Zavala’s 40^th goal of the season, put together a big second half on Thursday (Feb. 10) and defeated Flagstaff 4-1 in a Class 4A Division II semifinal match at Phoenix Paradise Valley High.

Verrado (20-1-1) will play for the championship on Friday night (Feb. 11) against Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep. Notre Dame defeated Phoenix Cortez in overtime 2-1 in the other semifinal.

The title match begins at 7 at Gilbert Campo Verde High, and will be preceded by the girls 4A-II title match at 5 between Notre Dame and Flagstaff. Flagstaff’s boys, the No. 4 seed, finished 15-5.

“This (title game) is important for our school,’’ said Verrado coach Ted Campbell. “We have not had a lot of athletic success yet, so this is for the whole school. We’ve had kids and teachers coming up to us to say good luck. They know we are becoming known as a soccer school. We have good teams – both boys and girls.’’

Verrado has been dealing with some injuries – but the three primary injured players gutted it out against Flagstaff. Hector Berrueta had a broken collarbone, Hernan Hernandez played with a mask to shield his broken nose, and Sergio Rizo has strained knee ligaments. Rizo managed to score a goal against Flagstaff.

Flagstaff had a painful loss in this one. Junior defender Ahren Velasco appeared to suffer a broken lower leg with four minutes remaining in the first half. His foot apparently got caught in the artificial turf when he tried to change direction.

Medical officials decided to call 911 and paramedics arrived shortly thereafter. Velasco was stabilized, placed on a gurney and taken to a nearby hospital.

Flagstaff got the early momentum, taking a 1-0 lead with 19:39 left in the first half on a goal by Chris Campbell. John Nichols provided the assist.

“We’ve been scored on first before. We just needed to keep our composure, and we did,’’ Ted Campbell said.

 With 12:51 left in the first half, Verrado tied it when the Flagstaff goalkeeper was lured out of position and Steven Gomez slipped the ball past him.

Zavala nearly scored at the 36:30 mark of the second half when his free kick clanged off the right post. Four minutes later, he used his speed to outrun the defense and put the Vipers ahead for good 2-1.

“He’s a good player,’’ Ted Campbell said.

Flagstaff didn’t back down and nearly tied it with about 25:30 left. There was a mad scramble in front of the Verrado goal, but the Eagles could not get the ball in against Verrado keeper Jamal Bechri.

Rizo scored shortly thereafter, and Anthony Mijares put an exclamation point on the proceedings with a goal at the 7:04 mark.