In a rematch of last year’s final, Phoenix Country Day got its revenge on ALA Gilbert North with a 6-3 victory on Friday.
After losing to Gilbert North 3-2 in the 2020-21 title game, PCD flipped the script to cap off a dominant playoff run and become state champions.
“It’s a little sweet,” PCD head coach Andy Rodin said. “There’s no doubt about that. Our goal was to win, and ALA happening to be at the end made it sort of a nice story, but we were pretty singularly focused.”
The match, held at Glendale High School, was chaotic. PCD forward Speed Gregory capitalized on an early mistake by the Gilbert North back line to open the scoring in the second minute, but Gilbert North fired back quickly with back-to-back goals in the sixth and eight minute to take the lead.
Gilbert North goalkeeper Roger Mayorga came up big in the 21st minute, saving a penalty by Gregory along with the follow-up attempt to keep the lead safe.
After forward Jake Gregory tied the score at 2-2 in the 25th minute, PCD took control of the game.
Miscommunication between a charging Mayorga and a defender caused the ball to bounce past the defense to find Speed Gregory in front of an open net for PCD’s third goal as the team began to utilize long through balls that pierced the Gilbert North back line.
“In the past, (Gilbert North) actually dropped a sweeper back, so we weren’t sure they were going to give us that,” Rodin said. “When we saw that they were playing a high line flat across the back, we felt like we’d have opportunities.”
Things took a turn on and off the field after another through ball by PCD found Speed in front of goal to extend the lead 4-2 just before halftime. However, the Gilbert North sideline was incensed that it was not called offside.
Gilbert North assistant coach Manfred Kwarteng, who regularly yells instructions to players from the sideline, made a comment when speaking with head coach Michael Gonzalez. The fourth official overheard the comment and believed it was directed toward him, leading to a conversation between the officials and the Gilbert North bench.
In the middle of the conversation, Kwarteng became visibly frustrated and claimed that the official was targeting him because of his race. After his comment, Kwarteng was shown a red card and instructed to leave the stadium.
Gonzalez believes the situation was simply the result of the high emotions of a championship game getting to the 23-year-old assistant coach.
“He’s passionate,” Gonzalez said. “I think that passion might have gotten to the officiating as if he was getting on them. I think they misinterpreted it, and it felt like they kept hammering it and going at that particular thing. We kept getting instructions that we can’t do this or can’t do this, but we were trying to coach. I think that fired him up a little bit.”
After losing the voice of Kwarteng, Gilbert North was unable to recover in what turned into an even more physical, chippy game in the second half.
Speed Gregory secured his fourth goal of the game, extending the lead to three as Gilbert North was unable to contain the through ball.
“He’s just relentless,” Rodin said. “The kid is just undeterred, unflappable, unyielding, everything. He is the consummate athlete, and what you don’t get to see is he’s also the consummate leader and human being. He’s such a delightful kid. It’s really, really amazing.”
Gilbert North forward Justin Provenzano, the top goal scorer in the state, converted a penalty at the midway point of the half to cut the lead to two, but the PCD Eagles answered back with a penalty of their own in the 32nd minute to put the game away, 6-3.
Two Gilbert North players were shown red cards in the second half, but Rodin was all for the game’s physicality.
“We love it,” Rodin said. “We look forward to adversity. I told them on the bus before we got here that this is the finals. Stuff is going to happen today. The fans are going to go crazy, there’s going to be a foul that you don’t like. You’ve got to not just deal with it but you’ve got to embrace it and turn it into a strength for us.”
PCD entered the game with one goal in mind: winning the 3A championship. After showing resilience against a top-ranked Gilbert North side, Rodin can look back on the season knowing his team accomplished exactly what it wanted.
“We just had a lot of fun together,” Rodin said. “We looked forward to practice every single day, we had a lot of laughs, we battled through some tough times, we felt like we came together at just the right time. Just the determination of this group to reach the goal that we set for ourselves was pretty impressive.”
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