A magical postseason run for the Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team came to an end on a foggy night at Cownie Park.
The 10th-ranked Jaguars held a 1-0 halftime lead before No. 2 Johnston rallied for a 3-1 victory in the Class 4A semifinals on Thursday at the state tournament. The Dragons (17-3) spoiled Centennial’s bid to pull off a third consecutive upset.
The Jaguars had defeated No. 4 Waukee Northwest in a substate final before ousting No. 1 Valley in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“I’m extremely proud of them,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax, whose team finished the season at 10-6. “We battled through a lot of things this year and most importantly they did everything with class, whether it’s winning against Valley or losing against Johnston. We stick together, and we try to do things the right way.”
Centennial was on a revenge tour that started with the victories over Northwest and Valley–two teams that had beaten the Jaguars earlier this season. But Johnston, which posted a 5-1 win at Centennial on April 25, refused to join the list of victims.
Amer Oric and Kyron Pope each had a goal and an assist for the Dragons, who will play No. 6 Iowa City West (17-2) for the Class 4A crown on Saturday.
“They have a good team,” said Centennial junior Andrew Heckenlaible, who scored the Jaguars’ lone goal. “We just came out sluggish the second half, and they punished us.”
The start of the game was delayed by 30 minutes due to rain earlier in the day. The contest was also moved to an adjacent field to accommodate the Class 3A teams.
As the game wore on, a dense fog enveloped the field. Centennial also lost starters Kwaku Kwarteng and Haris Smajlovic to a pair of injuries, but Duax refused to make any excuses for his team.
“Adversity is adversity,” he said. “We’ve just got to try to overcome it. They battled their brains out for 80 straight minutes and came up short. It’s unfortunate, but kudos to Johnston for finishing their chances. It’s unfortunate for us that we didn’t finish our chances.”
The Dragons had more chances early on, but were unable to capitalize. Then, in the 27th minute, Centennial found an opening.
The Jaguars played a through ball to Heckenlaible, who was battling for position with Johnston defender Max Aliano as the Dragons’ goalkeeper, Will Safris, came out of the box. When Aliano tumbled to the grass in front of Safris, Heckenlaible simply had to boot the ball into an open net.
“The defender whiffed it,” Heckenlaible said. “I just ran around a couple guys and scored.”
It was Heckenlaible’s 12th goal of the season and the 43rd of his career. He scored a goal in all four of the Jaguars’ postseason games.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
“I knew it was going to be a dogfight the rest of the way,” Duax said. “I knew they were going to kick balls right at our goalkeeper as many times as they possibly could. We were prepared for it, and we did well with it for the most part. But we gave up a couple of opportunities.”
Oric scored the equalizer less than a minute into the second half. It was his third goal of the year.
Centennial had a chance to regain the lead when Parker Lundberg crossed a ball midway through the second half. The ball momentarily slipped through Safris’ hands before he made the recovery.
Johnston then scored on a counter as Grant Strickland got the go-ahead goal in the 61st minute, his fifth of the season.
“That second goal is what they do,” Duax said of the Dragons. “Just play it forward and hope for the best, and they’re athletic and they do it.”
Pope later added an insurance goal in the 69th minute. It was his team-leading 17th goal.
“We were pressing, and they countered,” Duax said. “I don’t care about the third goal.”
Safris finished with four saves for Johnston, which prevented Centennial from reaching the title game for the first time since 2015.
The Jaguars will now have to replace eight seniors, including standout midfielder Rashidi Ishibwami. He held the team’s semifinalist trophy as he spoke passionately to his teammates after the game.
“This team is a bunch of good guys. I have so much love for all of them,” Heckenlaible said. “It’s just sad to go out this way.”