SUNRISE REGION: Rivas proves worth as Las Vegas aims for repeat

Joaquin Rivas struggles to explain how or why he does what he does on a soccer field.

Everybody else struggles to find the words to express how important he’s been to Las Vegas High’s boys team.

Rivas scored three goals and had an assist Saturday to lift the Wildcats (15-4) past Valley, 4-1 in the Sunrise Region final at Bettye Wilson Park. Las Vegas, the defending Class 4A state champion, will face Douglas in a state semifinal Friday at 4 p.m. in Reno.

“I don’t know. I’m just always at the right spot, I guess,” Rivas said.

Rivas put the finishing touches on a Sunrise region tournament in which he scored six of Las Vegas’ 11 goals and had three assists.

“Joaquin is the greatest. He’s like a god,” Las Vegas goalkeeper Roger Zaragoza said. “I don’t know what we’d do without him.”

And it only took three minutes for Rivas to make his presence known Saturday. The striker was in front of the net to bury a cross from Ruben Amezcua, giving the Wildcats a lead they never relinquished.

“We obviously have a great finisher,” Las Vegas coach Vince Hart said. “He’s a big-game player.”

With five minutes remaining in the first half, Rivas bent a corner kick near the goal line, allowing teammate Erick Fedde to step toward the line and head the ball in for a 2-0 lead.

But the senior’s most important work came early in the second half. On the restart after a teammate had been issued a red card that forced the Wildcats to play a man down for the remainder of the match, Rivas stuck home a rebound after Angel Martinez’s shot glanced off the post.

It gave Las Vegas a 3-0 lead and turned the tide after what could have been a disaster for the Wildcats.

“I was so pleased that we scored so quickly after that because it settled everybody down,” Hart said. “That was a very important goal.”

Valley (11-5-5) closed to within 3-1 on a touch-in by Bruno Carrillo, but Rivas ended any hope of a comeback by the Vikings, finishing a nifty give-and-go with teammate Ivan Chamorro. Rivas’ shot rocketed into the left side of the goal to put the Wildcats up 4-1.

“We’re working harder. We really want this,” Rivas said. “Since we started the playoffs, we’ve really gotten our team together. We’re more disciplined.”