Since the day it opened in 1998, Hamilton has been known as a football factory, winning state championships, traveling out of state to play games and sending its kids to colleges like few other programs. Several other sports have followed suit (baseball, golf).

The three-year ascension of Hamilton's boys soccer program continues, but the next step has proven elusive.

Jason Thompson felt he needed to make a life change, and soccer drew the short straw.

Jason Thompson felt he needed to make a life change, and soccer drew the short straw.

Having been the only team to beat No. 1 Xavier in a girls soccer match that counted this season, No. 2 Hamilton had a game plan.

Frost-nipped metallic bleachers were peppered with parents burrowed beneath blankets and coats, peering out just enough to watch their children dress-down into lunacy for the 9 a.m. start. While both the Hamilton and Flagstaff girls soccer teams played in the near-freezing temperatures in t-shirts and mid-thigh shorts, it was not the mountain folk who conquered the elements.

Monty Riggs scored the lone goal on a deflection off Kete Meskil’s free kick in the first half to give Basha a 1-0 road win over Hamilton in a 5A-I state boys soccer match.

Tate Schmitt might have put the ball in the right spot for the assist and Josh Greene got credit for the first-half goal, but the Desert Vista tandem were hardly the lone reason the Thunder were victorious Friday night.

It's said that no one likes to settle a soccer game with a penalty kick shootout. Least of all in the state championship.

Nick Markette is always wary of the Gilbert boys soccer team, but on Friday night those fears were unfounded.

Desert Vista, the No. 6 seed, and Hamilton, the No. 3 seed, battled through two scoreless halves and a pair of scoreless overtime periods before the Thunder finally prevailed 6-5 in penalty kicks in a 5A Division I girls quarterfinal Saturday at Hamilton High School.