Crosstown rivals fall to Royal power

Varsity: The Royals played an overall great game against the Falcons on Thursday, February 9. Armijo had some players bouncing around into new positions again due to injury and illness, but everyone stepped up to the plate and got the win. Armijo saw a lot of back and forth in the first half with some nice quick plays, and then Fairfield had some great plays to their #10.

The Royals were finally able to sink one in when #19 defender Angel Murillo Padilla was able to sweep down the wing with some great speed and 1-2 passes to finally tap it in right past the keeper.

The Armijo players had a good talk during half about some things to clean up and who to watch out for. Unfortunately, Fairfield’s #17 was able to get a free kick just outside the box and managed to get it by everyone, even Armijo’s keeper. The Royals were not about to let a tie stand for the end of league and kept pressing strong. Fairfield scrambled to shut down a play and ended up fouling Armijo’s #4 defender Andres Orozco in the box. Orozco took the free kick and sank it into the far right past the keeper.

Both teams kept up strong play and some great runs but in the end, the Armijo boys held the score at 2-1, giving them the win.

This leaves the Royals 2nd in the league which they’ve held since the beginning of league play and they are headed to playoffs next week. In four years of coaching Varsity Boys’ Soccer, this will be CoachWilson’s second time to head to playoffs along with two of her seniors who played with the team as freshmen back in 2020. Captain Diego Torres and center Misael Cisneros are both excited for a second shot at playoffs.

The Royals also set All-League players Friday night and should soon find out where they head to for the playoff game. Playoffs begin on Tuesday, February 14.

Junior Varsity (JV): Going into the final game, Armijo was looking to close with a win. In the first minutes of the game , a penalty was called for Armijo. Jason Kudsk converted it for 1-0.

Moments later, Artemio Perez received a rebound and capitalized to make it 2-0.

The momentum continued and Haroon Salarzai was able to score his fourth goal of the season and make it 3-0 into the half.

In the second half it was all Armijo, but Fairfield was able to contain or shots would be off target. In the last four minutes of the game Benjamin Tooley scored from outside the box and end the game at 4-0.

The boys fought hard until the end and weren’t able to secure 1st, finishing second overall. It’s the first time after four years that JV doesn’t win League.