Royal lands 7, Wahluke six on soccer all-league

ROYAL CITY - Highland may have won the South Central A Conference high school title, but Royal, which went on to the final 4, was the equal of the Scotties in all-league selections.

Royal and Highland were honored with seven selections each. Wahluke, which was just a step behind those two and won the last two state titles, scored six selections.

Royal had three boys on the first team, junior midfielder Christian Guerrero, junior defender Alex Myrick and senior defender Johnny Villanueva.

Another Knight who probably should have made first team was junior goal keeper Lupe Arceo, who was spectacular in the 3-1 win over Seattle Christian that got the Knights to the final 4.

The honor went to Antonio Gonzalez of Highland, who had a fine senior season. Arceo was chosen second team.

Wahluke's first team selections were senior forward Eugenio Cruz and senior defender Luis Rivera. Warrior senior goalie Cesar Tlatelpa played with first team skill, but he couldn't get past Arceo and Gonzalez in the voting by SCAC coaches. He received honorable mention.

Other second team selections for South County were senior forward Alex Ramirez of Royal and senior midfielder Jorge Lopez of Wahluke.

Royal senior midfielder Brian Gallardo and sophomore forward Marcos Quiroz made the honorable mention list. Making the same list for Wahluke were sophomore midfielder Ramon Bravo and junior defender Jorge Preciado.

Highland forward Jesus Gutierrez was named the league's most valuable player. Greg Wagner of Highland was named coach of the year. Naches won the sportsmanship award.