VIDEO: Seventh-ranked Bluejays kick up another 5-0 win

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Perry's David Cardenas (21) rips a rebounded shot past the Boone keeper as Bluejay forward Ivan Garcia (14) watches during their Raccoon River Conference match at Dewey Field April 21

On Tuesday Class 2A No. 7 Perry sent Bondurant-Farrar home with a 5-0 loss in Raccoon River Conference boys soccer. On Thursday Perry repeated the feat, this time blanking Boone, 5-0, at Dewey Field.

Scoring against Perry the past two seasons had been, simply put, extremely difficult. The task facing Bluejay opponents this year appears no easier, as the team has yielded two goals in eight games.

With the likelihood of scoring twice against the Perry defense almost nil for most teams, when the Bluejays strike early, the opposition has been wont to either panic or play not so much to win as to avoid being blown out.

Perry put Boone in just such a position Thursday, with Jesus Rodriguez scoring off a Brandon Juarez pass 115 seconds into the contest. Ivan Garcia headed an Alexis Macias pass into the goal two minutes later, and before any kind of rhythm could be established to the contest it was 2-0 Bluejays.

Senior David Cardenas said scoring early is important not only strategically, but for the psychological impact it can have.

“Teams don’t want to play Perry because of our reputation, so when we come out and jump on them early it shows them they are in for a long game,” he explained. “No one quits, but you can see they know it is going to be tough.”

Perry’s early success Thursday may have caused the team to become somewhat disjointed, head coach Gary Overla said.

“I felt we were pushing too much,” he stated. “Our first two goals came so easily that everybody wanted to get in on the action and then we found ourselves out of position and doing things that we don’t normally do. We could have played a much cleaner game than we did … we were somewhat sloppy and not very polished tonight.

Perry's Jeffry Gutierrez (5) passes to Ivan Garcia (14) as German Alvarenga (7) and David Cardenas (21) follow the action during Thursday's match with Boone at Dewey Field.
Perry’s Jeffry Gutierrez (5) passes to Ivan Garcia (14) as German Alvarenga (7) and David Cardenas (21) follow the action during Thursday’s match with Boone at Dewey Field.

“However, I never want to look a gift horse in the mouth and I’ll take a 5-0 victory any day of the week,” Overla added. “The boys will improve and that’s all that matters. This pushes us to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference, so no complaints there.”

Cardenas scored nine minutes after the break by staying with a pair of rebounded shots and eventually finding a way to put the ball in the net.

Rodriguez scored in the 60th minute when James Crawford found him open in the box against a tiring defense, with Rodriguez completing the hat trick two minutes later off assists from Cardenas and Garcia to drop Boone to 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the RRC.

“We’ve really stepped up our passing, and I think it is because we probably have better chemistry than we’ve had in the past two years,” Cardenas said. “I like how we are looking.”

Perry's Alvaro Soto (13) looks on as James Crawford works the ball across midfield.
Perry’s Alvaro Soto (13) looks on as James Crawford works the ball across midfield.

The Perry junior varsity continues to look good as well. The Jays JV remained undefeated with an 8-1 win in Thursday’s first match.

Bryan Catalan scored twice for Perry, with Alex Castenada, Mikey Velasco, Anthony Guardado, Josh Perea, Cristian Guardado and Trever Clark adding goals.

Looming ahead on the varsity schedule is a May 10 showdown at Dewey Field with sixth-ranked ADM. Last year the Jays topped the Tigers in Adel to win the RRC; the year before it was ADM taking the crown at Dewey Field.

“ADM is the talk of the town and is the game everyone says we have to focus on,” Cardenas said, “but we know every game is important. We are treating each game like a Cup final, and that is how we will treat it (ADM). One at a time will get us where we want to go.”

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