Coming off a 4-3 loss at top-ranked Dowling Catholic on Tuesday, the No. 4 Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team tackled another huge challenge just 48 hours later.
The Jaguars traveled to Omaha on Thursday to face perennial Nebraska powerhouse Skutt Catholic and came away with a 2-1 loss in the non-conference game.
“They were arguably the best team we’ve played in probably the last year or two,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax. “They were really talented all over the board, and we were right there with them. We just gave up an unfortunate long throw-in goal off a header with like 4 minutes to go.”
Skutt Catholic raised its record to 8-0. The school has won every Class B state title in the last four seasons.
“They were crazy good, but you get better by these experiences–especially when you’re as young as we are,” said Duax, whose team dropped to 2-2. “We started three freshmen today, and we played a team that has 17 seniors–10 of which are starters. There’s a big difference between 15 (year old boys) and 18 in terms of physicality and speed of play.
“No loss is a moral victory, but this is a game that we can grow from and definitely get better from,” he added.
Centennial took an early 1-0 lead about 6 minutes into the game. Andrew Heckenlaible scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season off an assist by Ben Ridlen.
Skutt Catholic later tied the score at 1-1 before halftime.
“It was a really fun game,” Duax said. “I would say the possession and shots were pretty even. It was a really good atmosphere.”
Centennial goalkeeper Andrew Nelson made four saves in the loss. The game was played on a field that was only 62 yards wide.
“It was a little narrow for my liking,” Duax said, “and that made things a whole lot tighter. We have some supreme athletes that want to go run, so there wasn’t as much space as we like them to have.”
Centennial will head back to Council Bluffs on Friday for the first of two games over the next two days at Council Bluffs Stadium. The Jaguars will play Creighton Prep on Friday and Bellevue West on Saturday.