(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Ankeny Centennial boys’ soccer team already knows what to expect going into postseason play, but that’s not stopping the Jaguars from stockpiling some momentum in the home stretch of the regular season.
Centennial netted a goal in each half while posting a clean sheet as the 10th-ranked Jaguars posted a 2-0 win over No. 4 Johnston on Tuesday at Ankeny Stadium. The Dragons are the two-time defending Class 4A state champions.
“It’s a great feeling (to get the win),” said junior Tate Duax. “We as a team want to continue this streak, win the next two games going into the postseason, then finish strong and get a strong state cup run.”
“It’s feeling good,” added fellow junior Drew Kruger. “The team worked hard, especially in the second half, and we just did what we needed to do.”
The victory extended Centennial’s winning streak to three games, but unlike the previous two, it was able to do so with Duax playing a major role.
Centennial’s leading scorer got a red card early in the Jaguars’ 4-2 shorthanded win over Ames and was then forced to sit out all of its 4-2 triumph over Waukee.
Duax picked up right where he left off by recording a goal and an assist to help lead the Jaguars to their second win over a top-five opponent in the last three games.
“He’s a difference maker,” said Centennial coach Brian Duax, Tate’s father. “You get him 1-on-1 and it’s goodnight, God bless for most teams. That’s the goal: can we get him hungry like he was tonight? Can we get him defending like he was tonight? Can we get the total package of Tate Duax? If we do, we can go a long way.”
In the 33rd minute, Duax linked up with senior Arnel Islamovic for the game-winning goal.
It started with the Jaguars clearing the ball following a Johnston corner kick and junior Mace Nithang playing the ball up to Duax, who flicked it over a defender’s head and right on the foot of Islamovic.
Islamovic played it right back to Duax, and he was able to finish the run by scoring his team-leading 10th goal of the season.
“I checked my shoulder and saw there was like three Johnston guys and I saw Arnel out of the corner of my eye,” Tate Duax said. “I kind of hit it in his direction and when I turned, there was no one. When (Arnel) played it into space, it was barbecue chicken from there.”
Despite trailing at the break, the Dragons came out with a second wind in the first 10 minutes of the second half. But they weren’t able to find an equalizer on a couple of chances.
After keeping Johnston off the score sheet, the Jaguars turned around and extended their lead in the 49th minute.
Lucas De La Cuba found Duax after a throw-in inside Dragon territory and Duax was able to cross the ball over a defender to a wide-open Drew Kruger, who buried his shot after one bounce for his third goal of the season.
“I really believe that goal started when I went out in the first half,” Kruger said. “Our amazing coach Darby told me to make that run in the middle, and he was perfectly spot on.”
Kruger’s goal helped seal the win, but it could also be a sign of things to come. Centennial is looking for even more goal scorers as it preps for postseason play.
Duax and junior Brock Brazeau have combined for 16 of the 31 goals scored by the Jaguars this season. Kruger is the only other player with more than two goals.
“We need more goal scorers,” coach Duax said. “When we beat Waukee, we had four different goal scorers and four different assist guys, and that makes us more dangerous.”
On the defensive side of things, freshman goalkeeper Will Kreuger backstopped Centennial’s fifth clean sheet of the season by recording four saves against the Dragons.
The Jaguars also ran into Johnston on a day where it struggled with leaving shots too wide or just high.
Johnston had a prime opportunity to tie the game on an open net just before halftime, but the ensuing shot went wide left and hit the outside of the net.
Just after halftime, the Dragons took a free kick just outside of the box and had a header bounce off the crossbar. They nearly replicated Duax’s scoring shot 10 minutes later, but sent the ball wide right of the goal.
The Jaguars improved to 4-3 in the CIML Conference and 10-5 overall. Johnston’s records dropped to 2-3-3 and 9-4-3.
The win was Centennial’s second in a row over the Dragons, but it was mostly for pride.
“The shame of a game being this magnitude is that it doesn’t matter with substate (brackets) out, and the only thing it matters for is state rankings,” coach Duax said. “There’s a lot of good games right now that no one really cares about because it’s not for substate seeding.”
Centennial has just two games left in the regular season. The Jaguars will play a non-conference game at No. 9 Des Moines Lincoln (10-3-1) on Thursday before hosting Southeast Polk (5-7-4) in their conference finale on Friday.
Centennial will then have 10 days to prepare for a substate semifinal against Marshalltown on May 27.
“We just need to work for each other, work for our brothers, then I don’t think there’s any team that can beat us,” Tate Duax said.
“Hard work all across the team,” Kruger added. “It isn’t just a 1v1 out here, it’s all of us.”
