Class 3A state champion West High
placed three players on the first team all-Mississippi Valley Conference
Mississippi Division boys soccer team, including player of the year Austin
Otto.
Otto was joined by teammates Isaac
Sheffield and Joe Ryken. City High's Cory Andrews and Spencer Gordon were also
first-team selections.
Second-team selections included
West's Bob Brown and Alan Bedell and City's Duncan Howard-McGuire and J.D.
McCullough.
Honorable mention picks were Alex
Evans and Tyler Chavez of City High and Kit Weaver and Alex Troester of West.
All-academic selections included
Aron Evans and Xavier Sawada of City High, and Nevin Vijh and Dan Reck of West.
ALL-MVC MISSISSIPPI DIVISION
First team -- Austin Otto, Issac
Sheffield, Joe Ryken of West; Spencer Gordon, Cory Andrews of City; Reid
Galbraith, Erik Boyer, Tyler Sievertson of Kennedy; Amir Kantarevic and Zlantan
Kajtezovic of West Waterloo; Charlie Bales of Xavier; Lyle Hunt of Hempstead;
Mitch Burgmeier of Wahlert.
Second team -- Bob Brown, Alan
Bedell of West; Duncan Howard-McGuire, J.D. McCullough of City; Ben Hags, Phil
Varmie of Kennedy; Daniel Sanchez, Austin Payne of West Waterloo; Clayton
Lynch, Kenny Bader of Xavier; Alex Edwards, Adam Schmit of Hempstead; Eric
Meyer of Wahlert.
Athlete of the year -- Austin Otto,
West High.
Coach of the year -- Michael
Penning, West Waterloo.
****May 29, 2009 Press Citizen
Whistle Dooms City in 2nd OT
BETTENDORF -- They don't give out
trophies for most improved teams. They don't give out sympathy cards for tough losses.
The playoffs are pretty cut and
dried. Win and advance. Lose and go home. But somehow the City High boys soccer team deserved better than its fate Thursday
night against Pleasant Valley. It at least deserved to determine its own fate.
The sixth-ranked Spartans won 2-1 on
a penalty kick in the second overtime. The penalty was called in the box just 1
minute into the second overtime. The penalty itself was controversial, both in
its substance and in its timing in the second overtime of a playoff game. The
penalty kick off the foot of senior Matt Kracium was
definitive, however.
"Nothing happened," City's
Aron Evans said of the penalty. "We were just
going for the ball and the kid fell down. It didn't seem like a foul. He was
just going for the ball."
"The kid didn't even fall
down," City's Cory Andrews insisted. "There's no way you call that.
You don't even call that in a regular game."
Even Kracium
had his doubts about it.
"It was a throw in to me, and
the kid kind of whacked the back of my leg, and I went down," he said.
"The ref saw it from behind, which made it look like a penalty. I got hit,
I know that, but it's such a hard call to make in this type of a game.
"In the regular season, that's
for sure a penalty. In substate play it can go either
way."
City High coach Jose Fajardo thought the penalty did not fit the crime, if
indeed there was a crime.
"My player won the ball, and
the referee changed the game one more time, and that is very unfortunate
because I think that many people were witnesses to what happened," Fajardo said. "It's not the first time this has
happened when we come to Bettendorf."
Kracium scored the Spartans' first goal late in the first half off
a cross from Hunter Tebbitt. That stood until City
scored the equalizer with 9 minutes, 4 seconds left in regulation. Spencer
Gordon, a defender, nudged a pass to Taylor McBurney
in front of the goal,McBurney
turned quickly and booted it in.
"He had Spencer playing in the
midfield and put Taylor out on the wing," Evans said of the unusual
combination.
Kracium is a player who is a difference-maker. He has tremendous
ball skills, is hard to mark with one man and has scored 36 goals this season.
With that exception, City was every bit the equal of the highly ranked Spartans
(15-4).
City had 14 shots on goal to 13 for
Pleasant Valley in regulation. City out-shot PV 3-1 in the first overtime. The
performance was indicative of the positive transformation made this season by
the Little Hawks (9-9).
"We learned where people needed
to be in their positions," Evans said. "Before everybody was kind of
in different positions before we got it figured out and got it right."
"That's why it's so sad that
somebody else can change (the outcome)," Fajardo
said. "If PV wins because they are better, the only thing that we can do
is congratulate them and (wish them) good luck for the next game, and we need
to get better and move on. But somebody else cannot change the game because
it's too much work; it's too much effort, too much emotion. It should not be
like that."
****May 26, 2009 Press Citizen, Susan Harman
Little Hawks Move On
The City High boys' soccer team overcame a bizarre tying goal by Davenport West and scored
late in the second half to win its opening round substate game, 2-1, on Memorial Day.
The Little Hawks (9-8) advance to play No. 6 Pleasant Valley on Thursday at Pleasant Valley
in the substate semifinal.
"I think we felt throughout the game that we were superior in every aspect," City High coach
Jose Fajardo said. "When you feel like that, you're thinking it's going to happen sooner or later.
"But
the problem with this time of the year is it's hard, it's just hard.
You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. And when teams come like
underdogs, like they came today, we've been there. They have nothing to
lose. They were like that today."
City
High looked like a different team against the Falcons. The Little Hawks
sent wave after wave at the Falcon goalkeeper, Jon Kluever, who had to
stop numerous shots.
But
the winning goal came on a counterattack. J.D. McCullough took the ball
down the right side of the field and crossed it to Aron Evans, who
appeared to have a shot of his own.
Instead
he quickly passed to Zach Mennen coming up Evans' left side. Mennen had
only Kluever to beat, and his shot eluded the diving keeper low and
into the far corner of the net with about 6 minutes left to play.
"I saw Zach on a run and passed it," Evans said. "He made a great run."
"I was in the right place at the right time," Mennen said.
Mennen's
rather calm, controlled shot was in contrast to those of several
teammates during the second half. Those shots were closer to scoring a
bag of popcorn in the concession stand than they were coming between
the pipes.
"He tells us to just pass it in," Mennen said.
Indeed Mennen's shot was a lot like Evans' pass -- precise, well timed and perfectly executed.
City
scored first, 16 minutes into the first half, when Falcons defender
Kyle Burney tripped City's Cory Andrews in the box. Andrews scored on
the penalty kick on a low roller to the right of Kluever.
The
Falcons got the equalizer on a play that Evans called the most bizarre
goal he's ever seen. City High defender Spencer Gordon was trying to
clear a ball out of the box. The only Davenport West player within
shouting distance was forward Travis Willows.
Gordon's
smash hit Willows in the head and shot backward into the net. City High
keeper Duncan Howard-McGuire had no chance to defend it. Willows was
down on the ground for several seconds and had no idea he had "scored"
with the inadvertent header.
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"The
lesson to learn there is don't kick it straight; kick it diagonally,"
Fajardo said. "They got lucky on that. We got them back in the game.
They didn't get back into the game."
With 17 minutes left in the half the game was tied, and it stayed that way until Mennen's goal.
"We just had to forget about it," Evans said.
The
whole second half was "intense," in Mennen's words. It was a little
chippy with players questioning the refereeing and fans of both teams
complaining about the physical play.
The
fact that Evans was involved in the winning play at all is something of
a miracle. He injured his right knee in the team's first game and has
only recently seen as much as 10 minutes of action.
"It's
feeling pretty good when I'm running and cutting," he said. "It's just
the contact feels a lot different. It's kind of hard to play with the
brace."
****May 20, 2009 Press Citizen
Little Hawks best J-Hawks in Thriller
City High
closed out the regular season with a 2-1 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson on
Tuesday in Cedar Rapids.
The Little Hawks got up 2-0 in the
first half on goals by Tyler Chavez and Cory Andrews, assists by J.D.
McCullough and Taylor McBurney, then held off a
furious J-Hawk charge in the final 10 minutes of the second period.
"We had six or seven chances to
put the game away, but we didn't do it," City coach Jose Fajardo said. "They had a couple of good crosses that
our defense did a good job on."
City moved to 8-8, 8-5 MVC and play
Tuesday against Davenport West in a Class 3A substate
quarterfinal at home.
"We are looking forward to that,"
Fajardo said. "Making it to state is our next
goal."
****May 15, 2009 Press Citizen
CITY HIGH 4, DUBUQUE SENIOR 0:Tyler Chavez scored two goals off assists
by J.D. McCullough to lead the Little Hawks in Dubuque.McCullough also scored off an assist by Cory Andrews, and Ellis Jordan
scored with an assist from Greg Weno.
City scored three goals in the second half.
"We started slow," City coach Jose Fajardo
said. "It is always hard to play against anybody after you play West. But we picked it up in the second half." City is 7-8 overall and 7-5 in the MVC.
****May 13, 2009 Press Citizen, Susan Harman
City High 0, West High 1
Tuesday night's boys soccer match between City High and West High
looked for all the world like a sequel. For five consecutive years
(2003-07) the regular-season match between the two rivals went two
overtimes and a shootout before a winner was crowned.
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Finally
last season, West broke the streak with a 4-0 victory. Tuesday's game
at the University of Iowa soccer complex was scoreless for the first 72
minutes until Austin Otto took a pass from Tanner Schilling in front of
the Little Hawk goal and punched it in.
That
goal with 7 minutes, 27 seconds left stood up for a 1-0 victory as No.
3 West dodged another determined effort at an upset by City. West
improved its record to 10-1 in Mississippi Valley Conference play and
13-2 overall. City High is 6-5 and 6-8.
"I
think they had a game plan and they did pretty well and they kept us
out," West coach Brad Stiles said. "That's the way our games played."
The
scheduled girls game to follow was postponed by a thunderstorm. The
girls' teams will play at UI's complex at 4:30 p.m. today.
The
winning goal came just 30 seconds after West was unable to convert with
an empty net. Otto and Will Hirsch made a run and only two defenders
were between the advancing Trojans and keeper Duncan Howard-McGuire.
The
keeper was forced out of position to try to make a play on Otto and
Hirsch had the ball in the box with an empty net. But the junior
forward was in an awkward position off the ground to connect with the
bouncing ball and his shot went just wide.
West regrouped immediately and charged again with Schilling taking the lead.
"It
was crazy," Schilling said. "We finally got our heads up and switched
the ball like Stiles (wanted). I just found the opening and split two
guys, and luckily Otto got to put another one in. Is that like 16 or
something now?"
Schilling said it was hard not to be frustrated with all the chances the Trojans had in both halves.
"We weren't really finishing very well; I don't think we were concentrating too much and we were getting lazy," he said.
"But
the defense stuck in there and everyone stayed strong and we finally
got one in there. I would like to thank the defense. They kept swinging
it around and getting it out of the back."
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Stiles was a little more critical of his team's inability to score.
"We
just keep shooting ourselves in the foot with some missed chances and
some lack of communication," he said. "But we maintained another
shutout, which is good for us.
"I
can tell that we lack the killer instinct. We like to play in games
that are easy. We are having trouble finding the next level of
intensity. They have it in them; they just have to find a way to bring
it out."
Howard-McGuire
was magnificent all evening, making several spectacular saves against a
West offense that kept coming down the field but couldn't quite get the
ball into the net.
"At
the beginning of the second half, our defense was talking pretty well,"
Howard-McGuire said. "(The Trojans) are a good team; they can put
things together and a lot of those guys have been playing together for
a long time. But I thought we did a pretty good job the first half,
too. I think we just kind of got run down by the end."
"I
think that the whole team defensively did a good job," City High coach
Jose Fajardo said. "We knew how strong and deep West is. It was a great
way to show us one more time that we can really compete against anybody
in the state because we were very close. We had our chances."
The
Little Hawks, even with the wind in their favor in the second half,
played conservatively. Fajardo was frank in saying his team was trying
to create a shootout opportunity.
"Our
goal was to keep the score at zero as long as possible," he said.
"Because we know how deep they are, and we know how deep we are."
Fajardo
thought that the longer the game remained scoreless it might create
some anxiety for the Trojans as they tried to score, thus enabling City
to perhaps sneak behind the defense in a counterattack.
"But
they have too much," Fajardo said. "It's hard for us to stop every
single thing. The left side, where the goal came from, it was not the
first time they beat us from the left side. They beat us from the left
side at least four or five times, and that time they got it in. It was
only a matter of time."
"We're
happy with what we did, but we knew we could beat that team,"
Howard-McGuire said. "I think that our offense kind of let us down the
second half, which is one thing we kind of had a little bit of the
first half."
City
continues to play without midfielder Aron Evans, who was injured in the
first game. Evans also missed last year's game with an injury. Fajardo
said Evans, who is beginning to work out, may be able to come back by
the time the playoffs start.
****May 8, 2009 Press Citizen
• CITY HIGH 2, CEDAR FALLS 1 (SO): The Little Hawks came through after two
scoreless overtimes to win the shootout 5-4 in Iowa City.
The Tigers scored in the second half to take a 1-0 lead, and Taylor McBurney tied the match with 10 minutes left in regulation.
"In the overtimes, we had two clear chances against their keeper,"
City coach Jose Fajardo said. "There were a lot
of long balls. The defense was playing really deep. But I think we were the
dominating team."
Cory Andrews, J.D. McCullough, Tyler Chavez, Alex Evans and Devyn Lewis scored in the shootout to give the Little Hawks
the win. City is 6-7 overall and 6-4 in the MVC.
****May 3, 2009 Press Citizen, Susan Harman
Fast start to day propels City to split
City
High was a breakfast-time offensive juggernaut Saturday, but after
digesting four first-half goals against Linn-Mar, the Little Hawks
failed to score in three more halves of soccer.
City
ended up with a split of its two matches, beating Linn-Mar 4-3 and
falling to No. 8 Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 1-0, in the second game in Iowa
City.
The Little Hawks (5-7) nearly let their 4-0 lead get away against the Lions, who rallied for three goals in the second half.
"Unfortunately
we relaxed, and we are not a team that can relax," City High coach Jose
Fajardo said. "We have a lot of talent collectively; we cannot relax
individually because it cost us. I hope that was a good (lesson) for us
because when we do things right, things happen for us."
"We've
never really been up that high and turned the switch off and got
vulnerable, and they scored three goals within about 10 minutes of each
other," senior forward Cory Andrews said.
Andrews scored three goals, and Tyler Chavez scored one for the Little Hawks in a first half for the highlight reel.
"It clicked; everything went well," sophomore Taylor McBurney said. "Then in the second half we went to sleep."
Fajardo thought his team translated the things it practices and brought them to the game in that half.
"We got lucky; the things that we were doing were happening and the shots that we took went in," he said.
In
the afternoon game, Kennedy scored a goal in the first three minutes of
play against City on a 50-yard floater off the foot of Christopher
Bruns. It was the only goal Kennedy scored all day, and yet the Cougars
headed home with two victories thanks to an earlier shootout win over
West High.
"It
was one of those shots where you say, 'Take a shot, you never know
what's going to happen,'" Fajardo said. "It was from far away. I don't
think he meant it, and it happened.
"I
think the wind helped a little to hold the ball because (keeper) Duncan
(Howard-McGuire) went to it and then kind of sort of froze for a
second."
Fajardo and the players acknowledged that Kennedy's team is physical in the back and therefore disruptive.
"At
the beginning of the game we got behind them at least four times,"
Fajardo said. "We sent somebody to scout Kennedy and West this morning,
and he told me the first half West High never got behind Kennedy.
"They are very talented from the middle up. They are physical in the back."
McBurney cited Kennedy's experienced club players as a reason for its defensive success..
City
started one senior and was missing a number of players, including
Xavier Sawada, Ellis Jordan and Aron Evans. J.D. McCullough returned to
play a few minutes after having been sidelined much of the spring, but
he wasn't full strength.
"You have to be proud of the team for how much we are doing with what we have," Fajardo said.
****April 29, 2009 Press Citizen
• C.R. WASHINGTON 1, CITY 0: The ninth-ranked Warriors made a goal in the
first two minutes and the Little Hawks couldn't answer Tuesday in Cedar Rapids.
"We're getting better every day and have a promising future," City
coach Jose Fajardo said. "We did a pretty good
job defensively, just couldn't put our shots away." City is 4-3.
****April 26, 2009 Press Citizen
City Splits in Dubuque
The Little Hawks fell to No. 7 (3A) Dubuque Wahlert
2-1 in their first game on the road Saturday, before bouncing back with a 2-1
win over Dubuque Hempstead in double overtime.
Cory Andrews scored in second half to tie the early game, but Wahlert delivered the game-winning goal with 45 second
left.
Tyler Chavez scored the winning goal from 25 yards out for the Little Hawks
in the second overtime against Hempstead. Andrews scored the team's first goal
to tie the game earlier in the match.
"It was one of the best games we've played all year," City coach
Jose Fajardo said. "Everybody played well, and
really the whole team stepped up for this game." City is 4-2.
****April 10, 2009 Press Citizen
The City High boys
soccer team earned a 1-0 win over Waterloo West on Thursday.
On the pitch, Cory Andrews made the
lone goal, hitting a free kick from just outside of the penalty box in the
second half. Andrews hit it to the right of the keeper "when they weren't
prepared for it," Fajardo said.
City (1-0) topped Waterloo West 14
to 8 on shots on goal. Fajardo was impressed by the
play of his underclassmen.
"Our younger players did an
unbelievable job today and showed a lot of heart," Fajardo
said.
Outlook -- Duncan Howard-McGuire
earned second-team honors at goalie in the Mississippi Valley Conference last
season for the Little Hawks, and defender Spencer Gordon was an honorable
mention.
Coach Jose Fajardo
likes what he has seen so far at City High.
"There is a team connection and
humble attitude amongst the team, but at the same time I see a willingness to
work hard and a hunger for success that will make us a very challenging team
for anyone."
Improvement throughout the MVC
season and qualifying for the state tournament are the goals for the Little
Hawks.
