Since Casey O’Brien took over as the boys soccer coach at Sunnyside in 2015, the Blue Devils have faced rival Salpointe 16 times with a high degree of success against legendary Wolfgang Weber and the Lancers.
Sunnyside is 9-6-1 in those games, including a 7-4-1 record at Salpointe.
The stakes will be at the highest between the rivals when they play Friday at 6 p.m. at Ed Doherty Stadium at Salpointe in the second round of the Open State Championship, the first year of the tournament.
With Sunnyside in the 6A and Salpointe in the 4A, it will be the first time the Blue Devils (20-3) and Lancers (22-1) will play each other in the postseason. The winner will stay in the Open State Championship for as long as they stay alive and the loser will play in its respective conference state tournament.
“It’s a hell of a rivalry,” O’Brien said after his ninth-seeded team defeated No. 24 Gilbert 1-0 Wednesday night at Sunnyside. “I think right now it’s probably the premier rivalry in Southern Arizona, maybe for any sport, to be honest with you. We’re two of the top teams in the state.”
Sunnyside-Salpointe Soccer since 2015-16
Sunnyside-Salpointe soccer rivalry results since Sunnyside coach Casey O'Brien became the Blue Devils' head coach in 2015. Sunnyside is 9-6-1 in the series in that span but Salpointe has won three of the last four matchups.| Date | Winner | Site |
|---|---|---|
| 12/2/2015 | Sunnyside 1-0 | at Salpointe |
| 12/5/2015 | Sunnyside 2-0 | at Salpointe |
| 1/5/2016 | Salpointe 6-2 | at Salpointe |
| 1/23/2017 | Salpointe 3-1 | at Sunnyside |
| 1/22/2018 | Sunnyside 5-4 | at Salpointe |
| 11/30/2018 | Sunnyside 3-2 | at Salpointe |
| 1/10/2019 | 1-1 (tie) | at Salpointe |
| 12/4/2019 | Sunnyside 5-1 | at Salpointe |
| 12/7/2019 | Sunnyside 2-0 | at Salpointe |
| 1/16/2020 | Sunnyside 1-0 (OT) | at Sunnyside |
| 2/16/2021 | Salpointe 4-3 | at Sunnyside |
| 12/13/2021 | Sunnyside 1-0 | at Salpointe |
| 1/20/2022 | Salpointe 6-0 | at Salpointe |
| 1/11/2023 | Salpointe 3-2 | at Salpointe |
| 1/10/2024 | Sunnyside 2-0 | at Sunnyside |
| 12/6/2024 | Salpointe 2-0 | at Salpointe |
| 2/14/2025 | TBD | at Salpointe |
No. 8 Salpointe, coming off a 5-0 win at home over No. 25 Phoenix Tolleson in a first-round game Wednesday, defeated Sunnyside 2-0 early this season in the Brandon Bean Invitational at Salpointe.
It was the Lancers’ third straight victory over Sunnyside at Salpointe dating to the 2021-22 season.
“It’s pretty crazy to have two teams who might top five teams in Southern Arizona with how big Phoenix is and what they have to offer,” O’Brien said. “It’s a cool rivalry. It’s been really, really intense since the whole time I’ve been here with Salpointe.
“Prior to me getting here, they got the best of us pretty much all the time. We’ve been able to get the best of them at least 50 percent of the time since I’ve been here. It’s cool to play them in the playoffs because with the Open, we wouldn’t have that opportunity.”
.@SHSDevilSports coach Casey O’Brien said the matchup with Salpointe on Friday at 6 p.m. in the second round of the Open Division state tournament is “a hell of a rivalry. I think right now it’s probably the premier rivalry in Southern Arizona, maybe for any sport, to be honest… pic.twitter.com/jlGQ1eUnnc
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 13, 2025
In the nine years before O’Brien’s arrival in 2015, Sunnyside was 1-9-1 against Salpointe.
Two of the best players in the history of the sport in the state will be on the same field — Sunnyside’s Angel Bracamontes-Pulido and Salpointe’s Leo Gutierrez.
Bracamontes-Pulido is the career 6A record-holder in goals (80), assists (68) and points (228).
Bracamonte-Pulido’s 33 assists last season is a 6A record. He is one shy of that mark this year.
More 6A records for the Sunnyside standout:
• Most assists in a game — seven in a 15-0 win over visiting Marana two weeks ago.
• Most points in a game — 13 against Marana in the same game.
• Most points in a season — 105 last season (at 94 this year).
Gutierrez scored four goals in Salpointe’s win over Tolleson on Wednesday, adding to his state record of 165 career goals. He has scored 28 goals over the last 11 games.
He also has the 4A record at 54 goals in a season and has accumulated 25 hat tricks in his career.
“We’ll be ready; we’re excited to play them,” said O’Brien, who coached Sunnyside to a state title in 2018-19. “I’m excited to play anybody at this point and time to be honest with you.
“I’m happy we won today. I’m happy we get to advance. I hope we put our best foot forward on Friday. I’m sure we will. The kids are really excited.”
Sunnyside went into this postseason motivated from last year’s disappointing elimination from the 6A state tournament, in which it lost its first match of the season in the 2-1 defeat to Mesa at home in a quarterfinal game.
No. 9 @SHSDevilSports defender Javier Gonzalez was part of an effort that limited No. 24 Gilbert to only two shots on goal in the second half, none in the last 35 minutes, in the Blue Devils’ 1-0 win in the Open Division first-round matchup. pic.twitter.com/NW0kHAOLl2
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 13, 2025
The Blue Devils ended last season 23-1-1 and spent the rest of the spring and summer with that loss serving as fuel during their traditionally intense workouts under O’Brien.
“It lit a fire under our butts, to be honest with you,” senior defender Javier Gonzalez said of the loss to Mesa. “We’ve been working hard. We use that as a fire and we just work hard.”
O’Brien attributed Wednesday’s victory over Gilbert to his defense, especially the play of Gonzales and fellow senior Adrian Gutierrez.
Gilbert had only two shots on goal the entire second half, with both just off the mark at the 55-minute and the game still scoreless.
“We have two seniors as the center-backs and they lead the defense, and they do a great job,” O’Brien said of Gonzalez and Gutierrez. “Tonight, they really showed up for us and it was huge the way that they played.”
O’Brien’s mix of senior leadership and young talent was on display with sophomore Pedro Vega-Benetiz, who spent time on the junior varsity team this year, scoring the lone goal of the match — his first varsity goal — at the 63-minute mark.
SUNNYSIDE GOAL
Pedro Vega Benetiz, who spent time on the JV team this year, puts the Blue Devils ahead of Gilbert 1-0 at the 63-minute mark. https://t.co/c0QTxIV7bI pic.twitter.com/GyUx9Oo0FW— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) February 13, 2025
Vega-Benetiz’s pass from the right wing to the center of the field went to Johan Jimenez, whose shot went off the right post into play. Brian Bacahui tried to get a shot off but the ball bounced off a defender to Dieggo Resendiz, who passed to Vega-Benetiz.
Vega-Benetiz’s shot from 14 yards eluded the goalie at the left side of the goal. Sunnyside’s players were euphoric, celebrating in mass with Vega-Benetiz on the field.
Sunnyside had numerous attacks and shots on goal throughout the match that did not find the mark until Vega-Benetiz’s goal.
“We usually don’t play a striker (what Vega-Benetiz was against Gilbert),” O’Brien reasoned for playing the sophomore in a game of this magnitude. “For us, it was changing the way we look on the field and the way that we look in our formation.
“We’ve done it actually with him before leading up to this and practiced it. It gives us a completely different look with him up top because he stays high. He’s a striker. He makes us a lot different and then Angel gets to play underneath him and be more of a playmaker.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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