DOBSON — “A high school boys soccer match held on a rainy January night,” is not a phrase anyone in their right mind could’ve imagined saying just a year ago.
That said, 2020 taught the lesson of expecting the unexpected.
A rainy January night was in fact the scene of a high school boys soccer match between Surry Central and North Surry. It was the opening match of the Greyhounds’ season and the second for the Golden Eagles.
Central struck late in the first half, taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from senior Angel Diaz. The Greyhound defense held the Eagles scoreless in the second half, but the Hounds also failed to equalize.
The Surry Central win comes less than 24 hours after Adan Garcia’s squad defeated Atkins 3-2 in double-overtime.
“They loved every minute of it,” Garcia said, referencing how the players felt about soccer season finally arriving. “It feels amazing. We thought it would never get here. A bunch of these kids have been coming out to workouts since July.”
Garcia applauded his players for digging deep in order to play a combined three hours of game time on the first two days of the season. The Eagles did so while adjusting to playing in masks.
“Obviously wearing the masks on the field affects them, but they tell me, ‘I’ll do it if it means we can play.’”
North Surry coach Eric Jessup echoed that sentiment on behalf of his players. It’s been nearly a year since any kind of high school soccer has been played. Jessup’s girls soccer team was 3-0 when sports were shut down in March 2020.
“The kids enjoyed it,” Jessup said. “They’ve missed it and they’ve wanted for so long to get out there and play. It was really nice to see them compete in a game, and that was a really competitive game.”
The big attraction for Wednesday’s match was the powerful Central offense against the stout North defense.
“Eric Jessup teams know how to defend,” Garcia said. “That’s one thing that we are lacking right now, and Eric Jessup is the perfect example of getting players ready for that.”
Arturo Valle and James Jessup held down the outside back positions while Jair Gonzalez patrolled the back of the diamond. Jessup also Edwin Vallegas in the defensive midfield, though he would push up on Greyhound attacks.
Central spent most of the game pressed up into North’s third of the field. The Eagles sent shots in the direction of Greyhound keeper Tristen Shore, but put just one of the team’s first five shots on frame.
Shot No. 6 proved to be the gamechanger. Diaz recorded two shots earlier in that half that both sailed north of the crossbar, but found the mark 36 minutes in.
JT Garcia followed Diaz’s goal by putting a shot past Shore two minutes later, but was called offside.
North Surry used defense to create to quick offense on counterattacks. Speedy sophomore Hector Hernandez stayed up top at all times, even when North packed eight players in the box on Central attacks.
The Greyhounds didn’t attempt a corner kick in Wednesday’s match, but had another weapon that Coach Jessup considers more deadly. Senior James Jessup was the designated thrower that had no problem reaching distances of 30 yards.
When James had throws deep in Eagle territory, Central treated it like a corner. Except this method gave Jessup more control over the ball’s trajectory.
Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, Central returned an All-Region keeper in Johnny Garcia, who often punched James’ attacks out of the box.
“His throws are a really good scoring opportunity that we have to capitalize on,” Coach Jessup said.
In the second half, Jordy Avila and the Golden Eagle midfield pressed up even further on North Surry. Central ended up out-shooting North by a tally of 15-6 after taking nine second-half shots.
Central’s shots, coming from players such as Diaz, Avila, JT Garcia and Eli Gonzalez, resulted in five second-half corner kicks. None resulted in a goal, though.
Vallegas and Gonzalez had looks late in the match but failed to convert. Time expired with zero second-half goals by either team, giving Central its second win of the season.
“We played really hard and the effort was there,” Jessup said. “We’ve just got to improve on our first touches and 50-50 balls. We just need to tweak a few things here and there.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com