Boys soccer: KC looking to win tight district race over Miyamura

GALLUP

The Kirtland Central boys soccer team has a chance to finish out the regular season as the district champs.

The Broncos own a 5-0 record following last Thursday’s 10-0 shutout win over Gallup.

“It’s one of the best starts that I’ve had in the last five years,” said KC coach Leonel Camacho, whose team improved to 7-6-4 overall.

“To be 5-0, we can’t ask for a better start, but the job is not done,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been telling the boys. We have three district games left and we would like to seal it.”

Going into today’s slate of games, KC leads the district followed by Miyamura (5-1), Aztec (2-3), Bloomfield (1-3) and Gallup (0-6).

The Broncos will host Miyamura today at 4 p.m. in what will most likely determine the league champion.

“Without a doubt, Miyamura is the next toughest team in the district,” Camacho said, “but Bloomfield and Aztec can come back and create some problems.”

Today’s contest will be the third meeting between the two district leaders. During the Aztec tournament, KC defeated the Patriots in double OT with PKs determining the winner.

“That went through something like 12, 13 players,” Camacho said. “It was pretty crazy.”

In late September, the Broncos made the trip to Gallup and escaped with a 2-1 win that also went into double OT.

“It was good for us to win here because it’s different when you travel,” Camacho said. “Now we have to get ready for them when they show up (today).”

The longtime KC coach said his squad is young, but they do have some veterans on the team.

“I think we have the best goalkeeper in the district,” Camacho said of senior Jerrett Guillory.

He also had the same sentiments of his center back, midfielder and striker.

“I don’t see anyone better than Andres Melendez, Saul Garcia and our star forward in Kyler Joe,” he said.

“All of those guys are seniors, and they’re fantastic,” Camacho said. “We do have a good team behind them. We have Easton Warner as a midfielder defender.

“We have some young forwards that are gonna be really, really good,” he said. “They’re young, but overall, those four guys are our best players.”

So far this season, Joe has made 13 goals and scored 27 points albeit he’s missed four games due to an injury.

“He was out four games because he got injured,” Camacho said. “He still not quite 100 percent back, but he’s scored the important goals that mattered the most,” Camacho said. “He scored both goals against Miyamura and he scored one against Bloomfield. I think he scored he two goals against Aztec.”

In last Thursday’s game, Joe scored one goal as the Broncos had two players finish with three goals each in sophomore Noah Warner and junior Easton Warner.

Camacho said Joe is still on the mend, but he’s hoping to have him near 100% in today’s games with Miyamura. The Patriots are 10-5-3 overall.

“That one is going to be big,” he said. “That one will probably determine the district winner.”

Camacho reckons the district will be a one-bid playoff team, so the district champion will make state.

“I don’t think the second place is going to go,” he said. “Last year, they took Miyamura and Bloomfield both.”

He believes there were gaps among all the 4A teams that allowed the district to get two playoff bids last year.

The Broncos were fixing to be one of those teams, but they closed out last season tying Bloomfield and losing to Aztec.

“Last year we were in the running, but we just ran out of gas at the end,” he said. “We did the best we could, and nobody expected us to be in the running at all.”

Camacho said they ended up losing the district title to goal differentials.

“We were the only team to beat Bloomfield, so I was really proud that we did that,” he said. “You know, being 5-0 is a step up from last year. Now, we’re the team to be beat in the district.”

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