Top-ranked Johnston too much for Newton boys soccer

JOHNSTON — After 40 minutes, the Newton boys soccer team realized it could play with maybe the best squad in the entire state.

Hunter Teague made several big saves against Johnston’s high-powered attack, and a 1-0 halftime deficit felt like a win for the Class 3A No. 10 Cardinals.

Johnston was just too good in the end though and three second-half goals pushed the 4A No. 1 Dragons to a 4-0 win on Senior Night at Dragon Stadium.

“They are the defending state champions for a reason. And they have most of their guys returning and gained a bunch of transfers, too,” Newton head boys soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “I thought our game plan worked well for a while. They just have so much bloody depth. They have so many quality players. We are playing two guys off the bench, and they are playing 11.”

Carlos Martinez put Johnston in front 1-0 at halftime when he scored at the end of the 26th minute.

Martinez scored twice in the match and added an assist and now leads the Dragons (11-2) with 13 goals and eight assists this spring.

Johnston, the defending 4A state champions, posted its seventh shutout of the season. The hosts have only allowed five goals in their 11 wins.

AJ Colocho made it 2-0 with his sixth goal of the season in the 45th minute. The Dragons added goals in the 64th and 65th minutes to pull away.

“They are a good side, there’s no doubt about that,” Jensen said. “And I thought the second goal by them was a good one and pretty hard to stop. But the other three goals were mistakes we’ve made all year. We lost guys on the back side and did not cover guys or mark guys well enough.”

Colocho finished with one goal and one assist in the win.

Johnston had a 20-4 advantage in shots and an 8-2 surplus in shots on goal in the first half. The Dragons also had advantages of 10-5 and 6-3, respectively, in the final 40 minutes.

Teague made 13 saves for the Cardinals (10-4) in the loss.

“You can see the guys who gave it their all and were battling,” Jensen said. “I think we had some great performances and effort by some, but I told the team after the game that there were guys who didn’t give enough effort.”

Notes: Jensen’s alma mater is Johnston, and he spent six years as an assistant coach for the Dragons after graduating from Central College. While he didn’t love the result on Friday, he still has a lot of love for his alma mater. “I got to coach at my alma mater for six years and we lost three state title games,” Jensen said. “We had great teams but just couldn’t get over the hump. I was super proud of their head coach Jim Frizzell, he’s an alum who I played with. They won it last year, and I think they can win another one this year. I still have family here so it’s cool to come back to your hometown and see the people you know. The head athletic trainer over there was here when I was in high school. I know all of their coaching staff, too.” … Newton is now 0-4 against Johnston since 2012. The Cardinals have scored one goal in those matches.