The Perry boys soccer team had waited for a year to avenge a loss in a substate final, only to have an unexpected hour added to their wait as heavy rain and lightning forced the 12 p.m. start time back to 1 p.m.
The delay served only to push their celebration back 60 minutes, as the host Bluejays (15-4) simply had too much firepower for upstart Bondurant-Farrar (7-12) at Dewey Field in the Class 2A Substate 7 Final Saturday.
“We had already beaten them in the season, so it was kind of hard to take them serious even though we knew we had to,” senior Alvaro Soto admitted. “Then the rain came and we had to wait another hour and it could have been easy to maybe lose our mental focus, but I think all of us remembered last year and didn’t want to feel that way again.”
Perry’s all-time scoring leader more than made sure no repeat of a loss one win from state would occur this year, as senior Jesus Rodriguez scored three of Perry’s four goals while adding an assist. His hat trick enabled him to tie older brother Osvaldo for the school mark for goals in a season with 27, a record the older Rodriguez said he would be happy to relinquish.
“I hope he shatters it, because now it will have to be at state,” Osvaldo said. “He already has the all-time record (66 and counting) so why not break my record?”
Jesus Rodriguez wasted little time in putting Perry on the scoreboard. Finding himself with the ball 20 yards in front of the B-F goal, he made a move, forced visiting keeper Nick Herman to commit, then slipped the ball into the nylon less than 10 minutes into the game.
“That really helped us get our momentum going,” Soto said. “When we score first, and when we score real early, it just helps us pick up our play.”
A steady rain fell throughout the first half, with B-F gamely trying to stay alive, only to be thwarted by a series of excellent saves by Perry goalie Anthony Aragon.
“Anthony had a really strong game in goal for us,” Perry head coach Gary Overla said. “He has picked up his play from the start of the season and has been pretty stout.”
Holding a tenuous 1-0 lead, the second goal of the game — if they were to be one — would be crucial, either changing everything altogether or creating a gap the guests were unlikely to close.
Rodriguez made sure it was the latter, taking an Ever Tobar pass and catching Herman flat-flooted between the pipes by scoring with his left foot for a 2-0 Perry lead. Fellow senior Brandon Juarez was on the end of a Rodriguez pass a few minutes later, firing a crossing pass into the far corner of the net for a 3-0 lead that all but sealed the outcome.
“I think the third goal really took the starch out of them,” Overla said of the visiting Jays. “We starting possessing the ball at midfield without much effort and I think that was because they just lost their energy after it went 3-0.”
Jesus Rodriguez tied his sibling’s season mark late in the game by lining up an Alexis Macias pass and heading it backwards into the goal as the lead swelled to 4-0.
“I have so much respect for my brother, so to tie his record means an awful lot to me personally,” Jesus said. “It is great we are going back to state, that all my friends and I are going to experience what that is like again.”
Perry held a 1-0 lead at Hudson last season before losing the substate final, 2-1, ending a two-year stretch of qualifying for state. The memory of the difficult two-hour ride back to Perry was burned into the minds of many of the Bluejay players.
“I remember that (feeling) very well,” Soto said. “I remember for two hours all the way back I didn’t say a word. All off-season, in every practice, every drill, every game I have remembered it and was determined not to feel it again. But we are not done yet — I want us to get back to the finals.”
The road to the championship starts with a tough test against a red-hot Winterset (16-1) team, who advanced with a 1-0 win over second-ranked Heelan Catholic. The eighth-ranked Huskies lost their first game of the season, 2-1, to No. 7 Perry and have not lost since.
The two will meet, on Field 8, at 2:35 p.m. Thursday at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines. The winner meets either top-ranked Norwalk (15-4) or No. 3 Storm Lake (16-1) on Field 6 at 2:35 p.m. Friday. Norwalk and Storm Lake played in the final last year, with Norwalk winning, 2-1, in double overtime.
“I said before the season I thought Winterset would be greatly improved, and they are,” Overla said. “They are a big, physical team and have some very talented players at every position. We got them early in the season and I am sure they have improved, but we are better team now than we were then as well.”
The Huskies scored in the 36th minute for a 1-0 lead, but Alex Castaneda scored with five seconds left in the first half to tie the game. German Alvarenga scored in the 62nd minute, sealing the 2-1 Bluejay road win.
“You are not going to get an easy opponent down there (at state),” Overla said. “It will be easier on us than in the past in that we know Winterset. Of course, they know us, too, so the scouting will be easier for both of us.”
“We will have to play our very best if we want to go on, and I know we do,” he concluded. “We are not taking anyone for granted, I can guarantee you that.”
Soto is a team co-captain, and on his arm band Saturday had written “Pslam 23” and “R.I.P. Gries” in honor of the late Marjean Gries.
“Everyone talks about going to state, and that is great, that is one of our goals,” he said, “but just getting there isn’t enough for us. We have more to do and we know it, so I think you are going to see guys giving it everything they have.”
