I-A BOYS SOCCER: Molina lifts Miners to first region title

Jorge Molina had already sent the Sunrise Mountain boys soccer team to the state tournament with his game-winning goal over Clark on Wednesday night.

The senior had no plans of being done with the school’s first region championship still up for grabs.

Molina netted two goals, including the winner seven minutes into the second overtime period on Saturday, to give the Miners a 2-1 victory over Chaparral in the Division I-A Southern Region final at Heritage Park. Both teams advance to state, which begins next Friday at Heritage Park.

“It feels great,” Molina said. “I have no words for this. It’s two times in a row. We played on Wednesday and I took our team to state with the (winning) goal. … This is a big opportunity for us. It’s the first time we’ve won (region). At state, we just got to keep up the intensity and practice.”

After the teams played a scoreless fifteen minutes in the first overtime period, Molina hit the golden-goal in the second. Goalkeeper Carlos Cruz sent a 65-yard pass to a sprinting Molina, who outran two Chaparral defenders and sent the ball over the head of a challenging goalie.

“He’s got a hell of a left foot,” Miners coach Brett Underwood said. “All the kids kept saying, ‘He can finish coach, he can finish.’ So I moved him about halfway through the season to different positions. He’s a little spark plug out there. The kids are right, he can finish. He has been a massive asset this playoff run.”

Molina also scored in the 58th minute, when he picked up a deflected corner kick and fired it past Chaparral goalkeeper Gerardo Skewes to make it 1-0.

The Cowboys needed just a minute to even the score. Alex Robledo took a ball from Aldo Skewes on a free kick, sent it to the lower left corner for a goal.

Sunrise Mountain, last season’s I-A state runner-up, defeated Chaparral (19-7-1) for the third time this season.

“Statistically, you’re not supposed to beat the same team three times,” Underwood said. “It’s tough. I knew that coming in that this was going to be tough. I told them, ‘We’re going to have a game today.’ We’ve just won two pieces of hardware. Now we have to go get the third.”

Cruz made seven saves for the Miners (17-1).

“All congratulations goes to Sunrise Mountain,” Chaparral coach Eric Rolwing said. “I respect their coach, their program. It’s something that they’ve earned. I congratulate them, but let’s go do it again next Saturday. Both of our goals is to win Friday and do this same game. They beat us three times in a row this year. Let’s see if they can do it four.”