The Perry soccer team did something Wednesday night that hasn’t happened all season. The Bluejays shut out a Ballard offense that had scored at least one goal in every game this season. Perry jumped on the board early and never looked back as the Bluejays defeated Ballard 4-0 in the Class 2A District final. Jesus Rodriguez and Anthony Velasco provided the offense notching 2 goals each. Brandon Juarez delivered one of the best passes of the year in picking up the assist on the Rodriguez first half goal.
“Brandon has really picked up his play of late,” smiled Gary Overla as he joined Shawn Kenney on the Perry baseball broadcast. “That was one heck of a pass. You don’t see a 20-25 yard pass put on a dime like he did too often at this level.”
The Bluejays dominated the second half allowing Ballard to get only one shot on goal in the second half.
“I thought we played pretty well in the first half but there was certainly a lot of room for improvement. We made a couple of adjustments and simply told the kids to let the game come to them a little bit more. I felt we were just a little behind in the first 40 minutes. The boys responded and played a great second half.”
Perry will now set their sights on another familiar opponent in RRC foe Bondurant Farrar. Perry defeated Bondurant-Farrar 3-1 back on April 18th.
“Bondurant is a really good team. Even though they don’t have a great record, they have a lot of skill and this will be a very dangerous game. They actually led 1-0 at their place before we came back to grab a 3-1 win. They have an explosive midfielder and good speed on the wings. I think our boys are confident and know they need to play their best game to get back to state.”
Perry will be looking for their 4th trip to the state tournament this weekend. You can listen to Perry substate soccer this Saturday beginning at 12 noon on KDLS and raccoonvalleyradio.com. Shawn Kenney will handle the play by play duties.