JC dominates 2nd half (09/19/2008)

The Patriots have taken a while to warm-up recently. But after intermission, they have been a force to be reckoned with.

Scoring five times in the second half Thursday evening, the Jay County High School boys soccer team kept its perfect record in tact with a 7-2 victory over the visiting Wapahani Raiders.

"We are a second-half team," said JCHS coach Alan Bailey, whose team trailed Bellmont 2-0 at halftime Wednesday before rallying for a 4-2 win. "That's what I told the kids at halftime, I said, 'I know we're a second-half team guys, but some time or the other we've got to pick it up in the first half and take care of things there.' Good teams, like yesterday, if you give it to them in the first half a lot of times you're not going to get those back."

Over the course of the last three games, Jay County (9-0) has been outscored 7-6 in the first half. But in the second half they have blasted opponents to the tune of 11-1.

After trailing 2-1 to Wapahani, the Patriots pulled even at halftime and then dominated after the break thanks to a key call against the Raiders.

Goalie Tyler Hensley was forced to the bench when he was hit with a yellow card for throwing an elbow at JCHS senior Isaac Poole.

It didn't take Poole long to capitalize as he worked outdueled a trio of Wapahani defenders from about 10 yards out and shot past backup keeper Josh Kauffman for a 3-2 lead.

Just 34 seconds later, Poole took the ball near midfield and passed forward to Joe Rasmussen.

The foreign exchange student from Denmark kept the ball moving up to Patrick Johnson, who beat Kauffman again.

Hensley returned to the net after that score - Wapahani coach Randy Bertram refused to comment after the game, indicating that he felt the officiating crew had a significant impact on the outcome - but the Patriot offense did not slow down.

Less than three minutes after scoring his own goal, Johnson sent a perfect pass from the right side for Brad Horn to deflect into the net for his second goal of the evening. At the 17:23 mark Wapahani was called for a hand ball in the 18-yard box, and Trey Dunn converted the ensuing penalty kick. Dunn also keyed the final goal, working to the baseline on the left side and sending a pass to Lance Louth for the 7-2 final margin.

"We worked real hard on what we call through balls, which are hard (passes) on the ground to try to get it to our forwards," said Bailey. "And then of course we try to work wide for that cross shot. That's where most of your goals are going to come from. Our passing skills, last night were unbelievable. And then again tonight ... we are a very good passing team."

Jay County hammered the Raiders for 51 shots overall, 29 of which were on goal. Poole and Johnson each took six shots on goal, Horn had five and Dunn added four.

Wapahani had just five shots overall.

"We don't get tired," Bailey said. "We play so well right now because we can pound the defense and find holes. We're so fast with this front four ... that's where we gain our advantage. That's what happened last night. We just hit the wings hard, pushed it down the sides and there was nothing they could do."

After Horn opened the scoring on an assist from Dunn, Wapahani broke through the defense twice to take the lead.

The first score came on an attempt to pass the ball back to goalie Adam Daniels, but Ryan Strombeck of the Raiders beat him to the ball for a sliding score to the left corner. The second came as Kauffman got behind the Patriot defense and had his shot deflect off Daniels and into the net.

"It was just two mis-played balls that normally Joe (Rasmussen) doesn't do. ... He felt bad about it. He asked to be taken out," said Bailey, who left his sweeper on the field. "Everybody makes mistakes on this team. We're always going to have those, but we played through it."

Taylor Fisher pulled the Patriots even as his shot from the right side squirted through Hensley's arms with 15:26 to go in the first half. It was his first career goal.

"I'm just happy with the way this team is playing right now. We play good front to back," said Bailey. "Their confidence in themselves is really high. When they're on the field, nothing is going to slow them down. They're there to play."

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