J.P. Odden should just go ahead and change his initials to T.M.—because he was clearly The Man Wednesday night.

Brophy’s goalkeeper delivered a defining performance while leading his squad to the Open Division state semifinals. Odden blocked Verrado's first and third round penalty kick attempts to help clinch a (2-1) 4-2 shootout quarterfinal road victory. 

“It’s unbelievable,” Odden said. “Last year we didn’t have a phenomenal season. This year has been about team building, building a bond and brotherhood. You can see it. It truly is like the most fulfilling thing. This is the most fun soccer I’ve ever had in my life.”

But, before the postgame fun began for Odden and Brophy, they faced some high-stakes stress as well.

That’s because Verrado didn’t fold after trailing 1-0 in the first half, when it was doing most of the chasing. 

Right back George Watkins showed some determination in the 60th minute and was rewarded for it. He kept pushing forward and eventually found an open lane after receiving a nifty heel pass from Verrado’s Landon Cummings.

Watkins took care of the rest with a decisive, low attempt for the equalizer.

“It (Verrado) is an excellent team,” Brophy coach Marc Kelly said. "They have a bunch of guys on the field who can play. We went away from our passing game in the second half and started playing direct like they do.” 

Brophy pressured any chance it got in the first half, knowing that fresh bodies would come in at about the 20-minute mark. 

The beauty of Brophy this season is that it possesses a lot of depth, Kelly said.  A few minutes after a handful of players stepped on the pitch for the first time, Brophy went on to strike first. Two of the subs, Conor Byers and Alex Torres, connected after Byers’ cross from the left went off Verrado’s goalkeeper’s gloves and right to Torres, who finalized the well-organized scoring opportunity in the 36th minute.

 

Just two years ago, Verrado won only three matches. In stepped veteran coach Randy Watkins, who guided Agua Fria to a state title in 1999. 

Last year, he directed Verrado to the 5A state semifinals. This season, 5A Verrado (17-2-3) reached the Open for the first time as the fourth seed. 

Bowing out in the Open quarterfinals after giving fifth-seeded 6A Brophy a fight showed the immense grit of Verrado. 

“We knew we would get a goal,” Watkins said. “We were hoping to get a second one. We felt really confident with our defense, and we did push guys forward a little bit. But we wanted to possess the ball. We had a little bit more composure in front of the net. We had our chances. We are going to be better in the long run for this.”

Brophy’s (21-2) only loss to an Arizona team came in Tucson this season. 

After Wednesday’s game, Kelly learned that his team won’t have to travel to Tucson again. Sunrise Mountain made sure of that after the 9th seed upset No. 1 Tucson Sunnyside 3-1. 

Brophy will instead host Sunrise Mountain on Feb. 25, with a March 2nd Open championship berth on the line. 

“If (Sunrise Mountain) is good enough to go down to Tucson, which is a tough place to play, and beat Sunnyside, they are good enough to beat anybody,” Kelly said.