A knee injury brought a premature conclusion to his sophomore season at Yavapai College, but Gene Tibbetts still earned a spot on the 2009 National Soccer Coaches Association Division I Junior College All-American First Team.

Tibbetts, a 6-foot-2 defenseman and a graduate of South, played two years at the junior college powerhouse in Prescott, Arizona. In his freshman season the Roughriders went 26-0-0 and won the NJCAA National Championship.

This year the Roughriders won the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference for the 21st consecutive season and beat Arizona Western 2-0 to win the Region 1 playoffs and advance the national tournament for the 19th time.

Tibbetts suffered a knee injured in the region championship. He came back to play in the first round of the national tournament, but aggravated the injury in a 3-1 loss to North Carolina's Louisburg College. Yavapai had an early 1-0 lead in the game and Tibbetts left when the contest was tied 1-1.

The Roughriders regrouped with a win and a tie in consolation play to finish fifth in the nation with a 19-5-1 record.

Yavapai won national titles in 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008 and qualified for the national tournament every year of the decade. The team also had a pair of second-place finishes in the national tournament and was named the Division I Junior College men's soccer Team of the Decade.