(Chino Valley won the Division IV title game. Photo by Jose Garcia/aia365.com)

It’s a good thing that Chino Valley’s boys can play soccer, because their dancing leaves a lot to be desired.

The team tried to dance in unison to the “Cupid Shuffle” song blaring through Campo Verde’s stadium speakers just before the second half started, but the players were way off beat. But when it came to performing during Saturday’s Division IV state final, Chino Valley gave a complete and rousing performance.

After defeating Blue Ridge 4-0, Chino Valley took a state championship bow for the second consecutive season. It also defeated Blue Ridge in last year’s D-IV title tilt.

“Back-to-back, that’s awesome,” Chino Valley’s longtime coach Jim Clark said. “These guys worked hard all year. There wasn’t any let down. We lost a lot of quality players from last year’s team, but people stepped right in.”  

This season, Clark’s had a technically sound team that could even compete for a winter Division III championship.

Chino Valley plays well in space thanks to its passing skills and pace. On defense, it only gave up two shots on goal to Blue Ridge and didn’t allow a goal during the state tournament.

Chino Valley’s adept touch on the ball was exhibited in its first goal, when Arturo Gomez scored off an assist by Geovani Vedolla, and during its final goal, when it worked the ball up on the left side, leading to a goal by Vedolla. Chino Valley also displayed some hustle during another scoring play.

On that play, Walter Soto chased down a ball that was heading out of bounds. But he kept the ball inbounds by sending a blind pass to an open Jackson Moore, who then beat the goalkeeper for a 2-0 first half lead.

Gomez pounced on a goalkeeper error to score Chino Valley’s third goal. No. 1 state seed Chino Valley finished the season with a 21-1-1 overall record and only allowed 11 goals this season.