Other than the gray on coach Gary Chavez’s hair, little has changed with his Glendale program.

The program’s winning ways continue under Chavez, now in his 11^th season, and his staff. Glendale's boys soccer team tends to also contend in the playoffs.

If it does this season, it’ll do so as a low seed. But No. 16 Glendale didn’t resemble a lower ranked team during its Thursday’s 5A Conference play-in home game against No. 17 Cholla.

There’s enough technical prowess on the Glendale side to create space and play toe-to-toe with higher ranked teams. Just ask Cholla, which struggled to stymie Glendale’s outside attack during its 2-0 road loss.

“They are quick,” said Cholla coach Fermin Gil about Glendale. “They spread us out.”

Glendale is young, and those young players may be the cause of some of Chavez’s gray hairs.

The team got off to a great start this season but sputtered during a three-match, midseason stretch. But Glendale and its seven sophomores righted themselves.

On Thursday, Chavez’s crew pressured Cholla from the outset until a lane finally opened in the 29^th minute. Sophomore Kevin Chavez ripped a low shot from about 25 yards that tucked just inside the left post.

Another sophomore, Emer Moreno, nixed Cholla’s plan of getting back in the match, just 72 seconds into the second half. Moreno, from outside the box, chipped it over Cholla’s tall goalkeeper, Luis Rodriguez, for Glendale’s second goal.

Rodriguez did block a penalty kick later on in the second half, but that was the biggest highlight for the young Cholla team (6-6-5 overall).  

“We saw a lot of growth from the team this year,” Gil said.

Glendale (15-5 overall) will learn Friday during the state bracket show which high seed it will face in the first round.  

“The guys have to dig deep now,” Chavez said.