Moriarty stops Prep’s dreams of championship repeat
BERNALILLO — Franklin Rae couldn’t believe it. Neither could Nicky Perillo. Santa Fe Prep’s defense had been stalwart over the past three boys soccer seasons, two of which ended with the Blue Griffins hoisting a Class 1A/4A championship trophy at the end of them. On Thursday morning, though, Prep’s back line cracked and Rae found his way through it.
Rae, the senior forward for the Moriarty Pintos, scored twice in a 5-minute span in the first half, and the Pintos’ sardine can-like defense refused to yield. The combination allowed Moriarty to advance to its first state semifinal with a 3-0 win a Class 1A/4A quarterfinal at the Bernalillo Soccer Complex. The win ends Prep’s attempt at repeating as state champion in frustrating fashion.
Meanwhile, the Pintos (14-6-1) made their first postseason appearance since 2005 count.
Prep (12-6-2) controlled possession for much of the first half, which was fine by Moriarty. It preferred to counterattack, thanks to the speed and shooting touch of Rae and fellow forward Lucas Shirley. So, when Prep was called for a foul that set up a direct kick for the Pintos at midfield in the 19th minute, the trap was set.
The Blue Griffins inquired about the infraction, but Moriarty midfielder Talon Hart put the ball in play with a pass over the top of the disorganized Prep defense. Rae slipped behind the defenders and slipped his shot over Blue Griffins goalkeeper Victor Rios’ outstretched limbs and into the upper right of the net to break the scoreless tie.
“We were kinda unclear what the call was,” Prep senior defender Nicky Perillo said. “Some people were trying to talk to the ref, but they played it through and it caught us off guard.”
The Blue Griffins weren’t alone in that assessment.
“I wasn’t expecting the ball to come at me right away,” Rae said. “When it did, I saw an opportunity. Since their team is really good at defending and holding the ball, I decided to use my speed when I can.”
The combination of speed and quickness helped Rae just five minutes later. Moriarty was in Prep’s third of the field when it tried to swing the ball to the left wing, but the ball died outside the left flank of the penalty box. No one moved toward it — except for Rae, who gathered the free ball, drove into the box and bounced his shot past Rios into the right side for a 2-0 lead.
“It was one of those plays where the ball bounced around and then it didn’t
take the best bounce,” Perillo said. “Yeah, a lack of communication, and it ended up in a goal.”
Normally, a 2-0 deficit isn’t the end of the world for Prep, especially with its ability to maintain possession and put a series of passes together. The Pintos, however, didn’t mind all the passing, as long as it stayed along the perimeter. Moriarty packed in its midfielders to create congestion in the middle of the field. Prep grew impatient and struggled to find good passing angles to create more space.
“The strategy worked for us,” Moriarty head coach Jordan Allcorn said. “That’s what we’ve been practicing all week. We were able to have the advantage of scouting them when they played Tierra Encantada [in the first round on Oct. 27]. We had a pretty good idea of how they were going to play.”
It helps to have a strong ’keeper in senior Ethan Tolleson. He made four saves in the first half, including a diving stab at a Harrison Miller shot from the right side in the 36th minute that could have cut the deficit in half and given the Blue Griffins some needed confidence heading into the halftime break.
Prep head coach Hersch Wilson said the running joke from the players on the bench was that they wanted to see the senior’s driver’s license.
“Because he looked like he had a mortgage,” Wilson said. “That was straight from our bench. And you can quote us on that.”
The joking, though, ceased in the second half as an seasonstarting and season-ending problem returned at the worst time. Three Prep starters — junior Joe Mathews, plus seniors Van Leeson and Henry Barliant — went to the bench with injuries, while sophomore Jasper Flint tried to play with an injured hip but made it through 10 minutes before asking for a sub.
Prep started the season 0-2-2 with several starters out with injuries, and finished the regular season 1-3 for the same reason. If only the Blue Griffins could have gotten healthy — both physically and chemistry-wise — then they might have had a better shot at answer Moriarty’s early charge.
Lucas Shirley added an insurance goal in the 60th minute that all but ensured a short stay in Bernalillo for the now-former defending champion.
“It was hard to recover from all of that,” Wilson said.
And it made it easier to believe the outcome, regardless of how it happened.