~by Noah Rohlfing for The Scranton Journal
The accolades have arrived for Greene County’s stellar junior attacking midfielder Junior Gutierrez. The Rams’ talisman has been named to the Des Moines Register’s All-Iowa Elite soccer team following a season in which he led the Rams to a Class 1A state tournament berth in just the second season of soccer in boys’ and girls’ sports at Greene County.
Scoring 55 goals, accumulating 13 assistant and scoring 124 points on the season, Gutierrez recorded the third-highest-scoring season in Iowa high school history. He led the Rams in both categories and was a focal point of a Rams attack that will return 90-plus goals from the 2019 roster for the 2020 season.
Gutierrez is also one of three finalists for the Register’s All Iowa Player of the Year award. The other finalists are Wesley Sanders of Waukee and Keaton Woods of Cedar Rapids Washington; both are seniors in 3A schools.
The Elite-All State teams will be honored June 21 at Wells Fargo Arena. The Player of the Year will be announced then.
The Rams lost to Iowa City Regina 2-1 in overtime of the school’s first state tournament game ever. The Regals are now playing in the state championship game against Waterloo Columbus on June 4.
