Perry has become, through hard-work and consistent success, the one team on every opponents’ schedule they most want to beat, and for good reason.
The Bluejays have won the last two Raccoon River Conference titles and are 20-1 in the last three league seasons, outscoring their foes 159-31. The state runner-up in 2014, Perry also qualified for the 2015 state tourney and were one bad break away from returning for a third consecutive season, falling in the substate final.
While veteran head coach Gary Overla would, of course, rather have Perry be the team being chased than the other way around, he confesses the continually high expectations can be a challenge to overcome.
“I think we need to — and I know this sounds silly — have more fun,” he said. “Sometimes the kids get so caught up in wins and losses that they lose focus on having a good time on the pitch. Everything need to be played perfectly, everything needs to be done just so — I think our kids need to just fall back in love with the sport and quit pushing so much.”
Perry, who finished 15-4 last year, has over 50 players out for the team this year. The team will play a full varsity schedule, another 13 or more junior varsity games and a 10-game freshman schedule, all of which will help build experience.
Lost to graduation were varsity fixtures David Cardenas (14 goals, 10 assists), Ivan Garcia (14-9), Chance Webster (2-5) and standout midfielder Ian Velasco (1-3).
The offense, is, of course, not without firepower, chiefly in the form of senior Jesus Rodriguez, whose 16 goals and three assists last year give him 39 scores and 12 helps in his career. Others returning who found the net last year include Brandon Juarez (2-1), German Alvarenga (2-1), Alvaro Soto and Alexis Macias (both 2-1) and Alex Casteneda and Ronal Menedez, both of who scored once.
“I think experience is definitely our greatest strength, however, we are toying with the idea of switching our formation to make us a more dangerous team in that we can apply more high pressure to other teams,” Overla said. “We would like to take advantage of our overall team speed and quickness and try to create opportunities in front of the opponent’s net.”
For as much attention as the prolific attack receives, the defense has been stellar. While Perry scored 56 times on 45 assists last season, the Bluejays allowed only 12 total goals in 18 games (one game was a 1-0 win by forfeit).
Junior goalie Anthony Aragon returns after tallying nine shutouts, allowing one goal in six games and yielding two goals in a game just three times. Over the past three seasons the Bluejays have scored three or more goals in a game 24 times, and just once — against Des Moines Lincoln (a 3-2 loss) in the second game of the 2014 campaign — has the team yielded three or more scores in a single outing.
Overla said the team goals for the year have not changed.
“Same as always, we don’t care much about wins and losses, just go out on the field and compete to be in a position to win games,” he stated. “Every game is different and should be treated as such.”
“We have an expectation of competing for the Raccoon River Conference title,” Overla concluded. “We also have an expectation of winning our substate in post season play and moving on to the state tournament.”
If the team can rediscover their love for soccer and — as their coach also hopes — remembers to have fun — a talented Bluejay team will have the opportunity to achieve their goals.
The season will begin Satuday at 9 a.m. when the first game of the Perry tournament begins, with Council Bluffs Lewis Central, Des Moines North and Southeast Polk the other teams involved in the round-robin affair. Perry will then visit Winterset and Carlisle, on April 4 and 6, respectively, before playing in the Urbandale Tournament April 7-8. Their first regular home date is April 10, when Des Moines East visits Dewey Field.
