Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer coach Brian Duax thought his team was prepared for Johnston’s athleticism.
It turns out that the second-ranked Dragons were even better than he expected.
Johnston extended its winning streak to nine games with a 5-1 victory at No. 9 Centennial on Tuesday. It was the most goals ever allowed by the Jaguars under Duax.
“They’re uber athletic, and they’re very capitalistic–meaning they finish the chances they have,” Duax said of the Dragons. “They put you under tremendous pressure. That’s what they’re really, really good at.”
Carlos Martinez scored a pair of goals as Johnston moved closer to the CIML Conference title. The Dragons improved to 6-0 in the league and 9-2 overall.
Centennial’s records dropped to 2-3 and 4-4.
“They had two set pieces and two wonder goals,” Duax said. “It is what it is, but we’ve got no excuse. They were just better than we were today.”
Martinez gave Johnston a 1-0 lead when he blasted a shot past Centennial goalkeeper Andrew Nelson in the 24th minute. He later scored again in the 64th minute on another tremendous shot that made it 4-0.
In between those two goals, the Dragons twice scored off direct kicks.
“We needed to be better under pressure–winning the first ball and then winning the second. We knew what they were going to do. We game planned for it all week. They just outexecuted us. We’ve got to get better winning the first one and the second and just being uber competitive.”
Centennial finally got on the scoreboard in the 66th minute. Ty Duax converted a penalty kick for his third goal of the season.
Mateo Munguia, Cooper Vercauteren and Grant Strickler each had a goal for Johnston, which scored its final goal with just 25 seconds left in the game.
The Jaguars will host a non-conference game on Saturday against Perry (4-4), the No. 11 team in Class 2A.
