Looking forward to getting out of this snowy winter back East, and playing in the Brophy vs. Marcos “Co-Championship” re-match in sunny PHX … it’s been 20 years and we’re getting ready to “settle the score!”
Snow fell from heaven unassembled, and this what the kids and I put together ... not the best, but it was a lot of fun!
Dear Gatorade,
Over the past few weeks I have spoken with [XXXXX] re: the REPLAY campaign. I am writing today on behalf of the Brophy Broncos and Marcos de Niza Padres because both teams are beyond impressed with the REPLAY program, and we’d like to share our story for consideration.
Our teams played to a scoreless tie in the 1990 Arizona 5A State Soccer Final. At the time, a shootout wasn’t permitted and the teams were crowned “Co-Champions.” The rule has since been changed and “Co-Champions” is a thing of the past — thank goodness.
So, what does a potential REPLAY of the 5A State Soccer Final mean to Gatorade, you ask?
First, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the premiere soccer players from Metro Phoenix to truly settle an old score – once and for all. But more importantly, it is an opportunity for these men who have become today’s community leaders to give back to their families, schools, neighborhoods, youth soccer clubs and everyone else who helped to shape and mold them along the way as they have gone on to become successful men, fathers and community leaders.
Today, these players continue to serve as ambassadors for the game of soccer, their schools and the towns where they grew up and many still live. Some are doctors, lawyers, lobbyists, entrepreneurs, Wall St. traders and retired professional athletes; but there is one thing more than anything that both squads want to add to their list of accomplishments:
To become a Gatorade REPLAY campaign ambassador!
The ’90 State Soccer Final featured the two best schools, in Arizona. This was the match-up everyone was secretly hoping for and the day finally arrived on Saturday, February 10, 1990. This rivalry features the best players in Arizona, and both teams were stacked top-to-bottom with the Gatorade Player-of-the-Year, All-America, All-State, All-Conference and standout club players on both rosters. The stakes were high – and the game was on!
Typically, when two trains are heading toward one another at breakneck speed you want to turn away and not look. For 80 minutes of regulation play, and 20 minutes of double-overtime, the crowd couldn’t take their eyes off the field for one second as the non-stop action swung back and forth all afternoon on the pitch.
It was an epic showdown, although if you ask Marcos they will tell you they scored a “controversial goal” that was called back. The linesmen ruled “no goal” and the second overtime ensued. At the conclusion of 100 minutes of consecutive play, the score remained “0-0 ” and rather than having a shootout (penalty kicks) to determine an undisputed winner the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) declared Brophy and Marcos “Co-Champions.”
To this day (some 19 years later), it is a sensitive and very sore topic for players, parents, families and classmates on both squads to discuss. The rivalry is as fierce today as it was in February 1990.
The score needs to be settled once and for all, and this time NO TIE is allowed!!
In response to the upcoming Easton vs. Phillipsburg REPLAY, both teams have chosen to re-assemble their ’90 squad and petition Gatorade to REPLAY the ’90 Arizona State Soccer Final. We have successfully re-assembled players from the original rosters (36 players in total) and we’re working together to make this happen.
The opportunity to square up against our fiercest opponent is a dream come true for both teams — please Gatorade, help our dream become a reality.
The potential opportunity to REPLAY our nemesis has been the greatest experience as players, classmates, school administrators and the community is abuzz about the mere “idea” of a potential re-match. Furthermore, local media is clamoring to write about this if/when Gatorade selects us for a REPLAY.
To show our unity, enthusiasm and support for the REPLAY campaign we have created a 1990 REPLAY Blog (http://1990replay.wordpress.com) and online petition to demonstrate our community support and unity.
As you consider other RELAY matches, I urge you to play close attention to the Brophy-Marcos blog and petition. We are organized, motivated and have a groundswell of support at the local, regional and national level.
Most importantly, we can successfully deliver a REPLAY match that will garner tremendous community support and goodwill for all involved with the Gatorade campaign.
A Brophy vs. Marcos REPLAY represents thousands of new friends and fans Gatorade hasn’t met yet!!!!
I am anxiously awaiting your reply and look forward to speaking with you soon – let’s do this!
Yours in sport, competition and soccer,
Brian Wendel
Brophy ‘92
Forget all those silly micro-labels, defined by pollsters, of the electorate as soccer moms or dads.
Just take a look at President Obama, like any other ordinary father on a Saturday, cheering on his girls, first Sasha, 7, and then Malia, 10, at their soccer games.
This is a totally new White House, complete with the athleticism of little girls in competition. They’re doing their best to beat their opponents, just like their dad. Who’s going to catch the head-butt in a photo?
(Source: New York Times)
By Sheldon Shealer
ESPNRISE.com
Steve Service’s header midway through the second overtime session hit the crossbar, ricocheted down toward the goal line, and this is where the controversy starts.
Service, then a senior at Marcos de Niza (Tempe, Ariz.), told reporters at the time “It was in, everybody saw it.” Robert Kaczmarczyk, the Brophy College Prep (Phoenix) keeper that day, stands by his statement, saying recently: “I had the best view; it wasn’t a goal.”
Nineteen years has elapsed and that play remains the center of conversation surrounding the 1990 Arizona Class 5A boys’ soccer state final that ended in a scoreless draw between Marcos de Niza and Brophy Prep. Observers consider the match to be the greatest collection of high school soccer talent on one field in Arizona history.
The starting lineups that day included no fewer than 10 college-bound players, including six who went on to professional soccer careers, most notably former U.S. national team defender Greg Vanney of Marcos and former MLS keeper Scott Garlick of Brophy.
Now Brian Wendel, then a sophomore on that Brophy squad, wants the teams to reconvene to replay the championship match that was never settled, and he’s not alone. As of Friday, 32 players from the squads — including Garlick and Vanney — have verbally committed to replaying that Feb. 10, 1990 match if selected for the Gatorade Replay, a program designed to have participants of past high school contests play the contest over years after the fact.
Once learning about the Gatorade Replay, Wendel used Facebook to reconnect with his former Brophy teammates to rally support. He then contacted Vanney, whom he competed against in high school and club soccer. Vanney turned to high school teammate Morgan Lee to gather the Marcos players. Meanwhile, Wendel built a Web site dedicated to the 1990 match and made a pitch to Gatorade to be considered for the next replay.
“It would mean a lot to put that high school jersey on one more time and to relive the greatest moment in our high school career,” said Wendel, who is now 35 and lives in New York. “It was a special time in our lives, and we could share it with our spouses and families and give back to our schools.”
The 1990 final pitted the senior-loaded Brophy squad against an up-and-coming Marcos program that went on to win state titles in 1991 and 1992. Brophy’s lineup that day, in addition to Garlick playing defensive center midfield, included Derick Brownell, who played in the MLS with San Jose, and Milo Iniguez, who played professionally in the World Indoor Soccer League. Scott Hileman, Marcos’ keeper that day, ultimately played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. His Marcos teammates included sophomores Vanney, who was playing forward, Kenny Wright, who later played at UCLA and with the Arizona Thunder indoor team, and Dorian Speed, who played soccer and baseball in college before turning pro in baseball and spending five years in the minor leagues.
“I probably played 1,000 games after that, but I still remember that game,” said the 34-year-old Vanney, who had a 13-year MLS career and spent 1997-2005 as a member of the U.S. national team. He was a sophomore in that 1990 final. “I remember it was an even game, a physical game. Aside from the opportunity we had, there were not a ton of opportunities.”
“A game of that impact doesn’t end in a tie,” said Kaczmarczyk, a 37-year-old Denver resident who still plays in adult leagues. “To play 90 minutes, play overtime, and for it to stay the way it was when the game started was tough to deal with. & [Replaying the match] is going to mean a lot to me. If we win, I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing 20 years later we came through.”
“A lot of people have it in the back of their minds that it didn’t finish the right way,” said Hileman, then Marcos’ senior keeper who is 36 and resides in Tampa, Fla. “I’d like to go play. I want to get out and settle the score.”
Hileman recalls returning to midfield after the second overtime session and being surprised to learn the match was over.
“I was expecting another coin toss, and for us to go to penalty kicks,” he said.
At the time, the Arizona Interscholastic Athletic Association used penalty kicks for advancement during the state tournament, but let state finals end in ties. The Brophy-Marcos match marked the first large-school co-championship in Arizona.
The Mesa News, in its match recap, declared: “Both teams will get trophies. Both teams can call themselves state champs. But for both Marcos de Niza and Phoenix Brophy Prep there is an empty feeling.”
That empty feeling apparently lives on today.
John Kelly, who was in graduate school at nearby Arizona State, was Brophy’s assistant coach at the time and later served as an agent for the professional careers of Brownell, Garlick, Iniguez, Speed and Vanney. He has committed to returning to coach the Brophy squad despite his connections to both teams.
“I think for all concerned, there’s a bit of unfinished business,” he said.
Front Row (l to r): Chad Buchanan, Nathan Beaver, Scott Schapker, Jimmy Deutsch, Shawn Callahan, Tony Longo
Middle Row (l to r) Chris Murphy, Marc Garcia, Chris McCabe, Chris Guerin, Brian Wendel, Derick Brownell, Dan Levesque
Back Row (l to r) Darcy Unger, Mark Jagodzinski, Michael Falvey, Scott Garlick, Robert Kaczmaryczyk, Milo Iniguez, Coach John Kelly, Coach Paul Micheletti
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