It took awhile for the Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team to solve its opponent on Friday night.
But once it did, Andrew Heckenlaible and the Jaguars were unstoppable.
Heckenlaible recorded a hat trick during a 10-minute stretch of the second half and Centennial went on to post a 4-0 victory at Norwalk in a non-conference game.
“Andrew had a great stretch with assists from Ty (Duax) and (Ben) Ridlen,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax.
The Jaguars improved to 2-0 on the season. Norwalk, which allowed 11 combined goals in losses to Ames and Dowling Catholic, dropped to 0-3.
Centennial held a 1-0 lead at halftime. Rashidi Ishibwami opened the scoring with an assist from Duax in the 25th minute.
“A very well-disciplined Norwalk team made it tough to break them down,” Coach Duax said. “We have to learn better patience, and faster play to break down teams like them. We played better in the second half after a formation change to try and exploit space.”
Goalkeepers Noah Sleeper and Andrew Nelson combined on the shutout. Sleeper made the team’s only save.
Centennial will travel to Dowling Catholic on Tuesday for a CIML Conference game against the Maroons (2-0). It’s the first of four games in a five-day stretch for the Jaguars.
“We’ve got a big week ahead,” Duax said.