Shadow Ridge boys soccer counters Perry for state title in Mesa

By Richard Smith
Mail |
X: @rsmithYWV

MESA - Score in the first 10 minutes, defend for much of the next 60, then score again on a counterattack in the final 10.

It sounds easy but if it was, every soccer team would employ that strategy. Saturday afternoon, Shadow Ridge followed that formula to a T in the biggest game in the Surprise school's history.

Senior Nathan Johansen, the team's leading scorer,  knocked in a loose ball in the eighth minute and the Stallions grabbed  a 1-0 lead on two-time defending 6A champion Gilbert Perry. Top seed Shadow Ridge (19-6-2) then received a one-man counter and goal from senior forward Aidan Miller in the 89th minute after defending for nearly 15 straight minutes to win the state title 2-0.

"It was amazing. It was unreal," Miller said. "I was tired. I was on the other side of the field, so it was hard. But that I got that ball and I knew. It's crazy. It's our first title ever."

By our, Miller means Shadow Ridge boys soccer but he also means Shadow Ridge High School. The young school tucked in the southwest corner of Surprise started playing varsity sports in earnest for the 2011-12 school year.

Coach Andrew Engwall's sixth Stallions team broke through almost every program and school barrier this year - after his fifth team secured the first boys soccer playoff win last winter.

This was the first Shadow Ridge team to play for a state title in any sport, and now it is the Stallions' first champion.

"We knew, absolutely, when these seniors were freshmen. We knew they were competitors and they loved to play. They were a tight-knit group to begin with and it was just about making them stronger," Engwall said. "Our juniors played fantastic today. But yeah my first year we went 0-11-1 and the we didn't get the one until the last two minutes of the last regular season match." 

Johansen, came through with his 19th goal of the season.

Perry created several chances in the final 20 minutes of the first half, but none were a shot with velocity on goal. Senior goalkeeper Eli Anderson calmly caught a corner kick and deep throw in.

"That's a standard tactic that we have to work to win the first 10 minutes. I'm a firm believer that the first goal is the most important one," Shadow Ridge coach Andrew Engwall said.  "We wanted to play direct. We wanted to play with the ball when we could but we wanted to play direct. Thank goodness Nathan just made a hell of a play. He's relentless in pursuit, the Energizer bunny."

Shadow Ridge senior forward Aidan Miller kisses the 6A boys soccer trophy as senior sweeper Micah Reyes holds it. Shadow Rdge won its first state title in boys soccer, or any other sport for that matter, beating Perry 2-0 March 1 at Mesa High School. (Courtesy Ryan McGinley/Dysart Schools) 

Engwall agreed that Johansen is a classic goal poacher. About seven minutes into the match he saw a window of opportunity.

"I knew the keeper was going to hesitate a little bit because he seemed scared. We collided a bit and I got the ball and tapped it in," Johansen said.

Both teams created scattered opportunities in the first 20 minutes in the second half, but nothing particularly dangerous.

Then #2 Perry (13-10-1) started to apply the pressure, winning repeated throw ins from spots where they could reach the box and a handful of corner kicks.

"We switched to two sixes (defensive midfielders). We knew the throw ins and corners were the most dangerous places. We dealt with the corners well and made sure we double marked their best player on headers," senior midfielder and captain Logan Henley said.

The Pumas' best chance late turned out to be its first, a hard drive by senior Brody Donovan in the 61st minute. It looked like it would sail just wide but Anderson took no chances and deflected it out. 

A couple more Perry shots sailed high over the goal.

In the final 10 minutes, Engwall brough on Miller for some fresh legs. The substitution paid off with a sequence that will forever live in Stallions soccer lore.

Miller charged in from his half, deadened a Pumas cross with his thigh, poked it over a defender and outran the defender to get the ball. He made one touch to settle the ball and looped it over the keeper's head to secure the title.

 "He's a guy that didn't get a lot of minutes for us the whole season. But he stayed humble and kept working. When he got his opportunity he took advantage of it. God bless him," Engwall said. "That was my coach's call. And I trust my coaches."

Thirteen seniors, including Engwall's son Jacob, Engwall and his staff brought the program to unprecedented heights.

Shadow Ridge made the Open Division, won a game, then lost to Phoenix Washington in the second round. The Rams are playing for the Open title tonight.

The four 6A playoff wins made all the work put into lifting this program worth it.

"We've been together for the past four years and a lot of us, and for a lot of us seniorsprobably more than that. Coming in as freshmen we were nervous but in later years we knew we had an opportunity," Johansen said. "We lost last year in the playoffs  we knew that in our senior year we would work the hardest."

Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.

An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.

For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.

As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.