Mesa boys soccer coach T.J. Hagen had plenty to be concerned with prior to the No. 11 Jackrabbits' 6A play-in match Thursday night against No. 22 Perry. Why worry? No. 11 vs. No. 22?

Well, Hagen knew in the past week Perry had beaten the likely No. 1 seed at state, Brophy Prep, and every team in the Premier Region (Perry's region) was either in a play-in game or qualified for state. On top of that Mesa played the play-in game without its top scorer and top defender --two of its three captains Moises Durazo and Brian Gomez, respectively. Both sat due to red cards they received Tuesday in the final regular-season match against Chandler.

Hagen saw that pre-game anxiety gradually melt as Mesa scored late in the first half and early in the second tp defeat Perry, 2-0, at Jackrabbit Stadium.

Mesa (13-6-1), the East Valley Region champion advances to the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday (Jan. 31) on the road against thea seed to be determined. That will be offficially revealed Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. on the AIA Soccer Bracket Show streamed live from the AIA office in Phoenix. Perry finished the season 8-12-1.

"We had a feeling we might get Perry and when we did we knew it would be a tough matchup," Hagen said. ""They had us on our heels a couple times in the first half."

On their heels, but never taking a lead on Mesa. Mesa broke the scoreless tie on a pretty goal initiated by junior midfielder Aaron Vindiola. Vindiola had possession left of the box in the 33rd minute and made a nifty reverse pivot move along the goal line as he approached the net. He slid a pass to freshman Bryan Rodriguez, who slammed it home from point-blank range for the 1-0 edge.

Mesa planned on falling back in the in the second half to defend and escaped an early near-miss in the first two minutes after intermission. A couple minutes later on the attack, Mesa's Edwin Garcia was able to corral a loose ball from about 25 yards out with space. He fired a shot that appeared to be headed wide right, but it caught the corner of the net seemingly surprising everyone, including Perry keeper Collin Graham. Graham made several nice saves throughout the match, including one that seemed certain to give Mesa a 2-0 lead heading to the half.

Perry didn't get many good chances late in the second half, but did put some pressure on in the final six minutes. Play got a bit heated in those final minutes. Mesa ended up losing Rodriguez to a red card the final four minutes and had to play a man down in that stretch.

"Mesa has quite a team, we knew that," Perry coach Brian Crayon said. "They're a quick team and know how to frustrate you. We have the speed and got behind them a couple times, but couldn't get anything when we had the chances."