The Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team is ready for the start of postseason play.
The seventh-ranked Jaguars closed out the regular season on Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over No. 13 Dowling Catholic on their home field. It was their fifth straight win and their fourth consecutive shutout.
“It was a substate-esque type game where both teams were battling their brains out and both coaches were playing chess back and forth to see who could get the advantage,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax. “It was a good, last test before substate starts.”
Centennial will take a 13-4 record into substate play. The Maroons dropped to 11-6.
The Jaguars took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal by Ty Duax, his fifth of the season. He was assisted by Jack Heckenliable.
“Ty found space at the top of the box and hammered one home,” coach Duax said.
Shortly thereafter, Dowling’s physical style of play started taking a toll on the Jaguars, who suffered a string of injuries.
“Emmanuel (Reichart) went down with a little bit of a hip injury, which we don’t think is serious, but right after that Joe (Krueger) and one of their guys got into a big collision which knocked Joe out because his nose was bleeding,” Duax said. “And the momentum swung at that point.”
Centennial survived the last 12 to 15 minutes of the first half, even though goalkeeper Reece Frazell was also banged up after colliding with a Dowling player. He was replaced by Jonathon Stockwell in the second half.
“Reece went up to catch the ball on a cross, and one of their guys just smashed into him,” Duax said. “He finished the half out, but we have two quality keepers and we decided to go with J Stock.”
During halftime, the Jaguars made some huge adjustments in an effort to prevent Dowling from getting an equalizer.
“With a lead, we didn’t have to score any more so we played a different formation and made sure they couldn’t get in behind us,” Duax said. “They were never really dangerous. I think Stockwell might have made (two saves) in the second half.”
The final seconds were ticking off the clock when Centennial scored its second goal.
“We played the ball to Ty in the corner, and everybody’s telling Ty to just keep the ball and let the clock run out, and in typical Ty Duax fashion he (beats the defender) and plays a beautiful ball that (Ben) Tullis finished with 7 seconds left,” coach Duax said.
Centennial will host Southeast Polk (6-8) or Fort Dodge (1-14) in a Class 3A substate semifinal on Monday at 6:30 p.m. The Jaguars could be a dangerous team in the postseason, especially if their defense continues to keep a clean sheet.
“If we don’t give any goals up, there’s no way we can lose,” Duax said. “We’ve been really flexible with how many guys we play back there, and we’ve been really good. We were missing Kellen Welsch today, and he’s been out ill with a really bad cold for a few days. He was sorely missed, but hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
