The Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team will be spending a lot of time this week on a bus.
The fourth-ranked Jaguars played the first of three road games in five days on Monday at Norwalk, where they posted a 2-0 victory. The non-conference contest was originally scheduled for April 6, but was postponed due to bad weather.
Centennial is in the midst of playing seven consecutive games away from home.
“We’ve got to be road warriors,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax, whose team will play at No. 10 Ames on Tuesday before traveling to No. 11 Waukee on Friday.
The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead when Will Overberg scored a goal in the 30th minute. It was his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
“Their back line made a mistake, and Will capitalized and finished,” Duax said.
Centennial then added an insurance goal in the 55th minute. Michael Brandt scored his fifth goal of the year to make it 2-0.
“It was a great combination play between Will, (Cole Vincent) and Brandt,” Duax said.
The Jaguars, who improved to 11-3 overall, had many other scoring opportunities. But they had trouble finding the net.
“I wish we had finished more chances,” Duax said. “It was a complete performance with a lack of finishing. I’m not sure if (goalkeepers Cole) Pankey or Mitch (Hinners) registered an actual dangerous save.”
Norwalk, the No. 10 team in Class 2A, dropped to 4-5 on the season. The Warriors won a state title last year, but were hit hard by graduation.
“They’re still good, but they’re rebuilding a little bit,” Duax said. “They lost like 13 guys from their state championship team.”