Among the honorees at Wednesday’s Bainbridge High School Bearcats and Lady Cats soccer awards banquet at 6:30 p.m. at the school cafeteria will be six players who made first or second team All Region 1-AAAA.
Making the boys All Region 1-AAAA first team was sophomore forward Leroy Rivera, the Bearcats leading scorer with 20 goals. He also had seven assists.
Soccer coach Chip Ariail said Rivera’s contributions were a major reason the Bearcats made it to the State Class AAAA playoffs. He talked about their strong regular season statistics.
Making the girls All Region 1-AAAA first team was senior central defender and team captain Rebecca Mulkey, who scored 10 goals, the second most on the team, and was a strong skill player who also had three assists. Coach Ariail said Mulkey, was a very intelligent player and was the cornerstone of the team and the backbone of the defense.
Named to the All Region 1-AAAA second team were Bearcats midfielder Jesus Contreras and defender Alex Ward and Lady Cats midfielder Jennifer Becerra and goalkeeper Morgan Cannon.
Coach Ariail said Contreras, who played all over the field, scored six goals and had 13 assists, scored crucial goals and set up goals to help his team make the playoffs and helped ease the burden left by all the guys who departed the year before.
Ward, who was team captain and scored six goals, was described by coach Ariail as a player who led by example and was the anchor of the back line. Two of his goals won Region 1-AAAA games that were crucial to the Bearcats making the playoffs.
Coach Ariail said Becerra and Cannon were both strong contributors to the Lady Cats success. He pointed out that Becerra, who led the Lady Cats in goals with 11 and assists with six, has demonstrated a strong leg and good skills while playing every position during her career.
Freshman goalkeeper Cannon recorded seven shutouts, and had 64 saves and a .711 save percentage. Coach Ariail said she came on strong as the season progressed, was a strong punter and had seven saves in a shutout victory over Worth County.
Bearcats who were named honorable mention All Region 1-AAAA were Jaycee Castoro, Misael Rodriquez, Maurico Ganados, Corey Morrison, Evan Aldecker and Bryce Williams.
Lady Cats named honorable mention All Region 1-AAAA were Derrical Williams,  Lilly Gomez, Ileen Marquez, Summer Boyd and Haley Thompson.
Admission to the banquet will be $8.