GRIMES — Dallas Center-Grimes brought No. 5 Perry down to earth a bit Thursday with a 2-0 win in non-conference boys soccer.
Perry had topped DC-G, 4-0, in regular season play and 2-1 in substate final action last year but were taken out of their game by a resolute Mustang squad that now owns wins of 3-0 over No. 7 ADM as well as a 3-0 win over Pella to go with Thursday’s shutout of the fifth-ranked Bluejays.
Perry (9-2) was a 3-2 winner over Ballard Tuesday, and the two goals allowed in Thursday’s loss marks the first time since a 4-2 win over Carroll and a 6-0 loss to Waukee on May 9 and 11 of 2013 that the Bluejays have allowed multiple goals in consecutive games.
DC-G (7-4) scored their first goal in the 59th minute and added an insurance score later in the second half. Always a team ready to play a physical style, the Mustangs stifled the Bluejays by dominating play in the middle of the pitch, Perry head coach Gary Overla said.
“That is exactly where we lost the game,” he said. “We could NOT [emphasis, Overla] control the midfield and because of that, we were never really able to establish any real threat to their defense.
“We lapsed into some bad old ways also, playing ‘kick the ball hard’ and not really trying to build an attack,” Overla added. “Overall, a very frustrating night.”
Overla said he could find “a silver lining in the cloud” by noting the Bluejay junior varsity was able to remain undefeated by claiming a 1-0 victory. While the Perry freshmen fell, 5-2, to an undefeated DC-G team, Overla said he felt the frosh squad had “played hard” in the loss.
ADM (13-2, 4-0) entering Thursday’s game with Winterset, is the next opponent for Perry, who is 5-0 in RRC play. The long-awaited annual battle for conference bragging rights is set for Tuesday at Dewey Field.
