Indians blank Tigers

~ Jackson netted four goals against its rival

Jackson used Central's aggressiveness against it during Tuesday's soccer game.

The Indians deked, danced and dribbled their way around the Tigers' goalies during their 4-0 victory.

"It's just the system that they're playing, where he has to come out," Jackson coach Zack Walton said of Central's goalie. "He came out and our kids kept their composure. That's a lot of it. High school kids keep their composure and the goalie comes out, you should score.

"Someone's running at you and you've got the ball and everything happens so fast, most of the time it doesn't happen. I thought the kids did a good job composing themselves."

Jackson's Clayton Baker dribbles away from Central's Michael Denmark during the first half Tuesday at Central. (Fred Lynch)

Central goalie Jamie Pickel twice charged out of the goal to challenge an Indians attack and Jackson scored on both tries. Pickel picked up a yellow card after the second goal, less than 15 minutes into the game.

Andrew Hileman replaced Pickel and he also came out of the goal to play a ball only to have Andrew Mueller roll in Jackson's third goal.

"There's a signal for the keeper to come out and it's when the ball comes 2, 3, 4 yards in front [of the attacker]," Central coach Dan Martin said. "When it's on [the attacker[']s] foot, he needs to stay composed and try to cut down an angle. But if that striker loses a little bit of yards between him and the ball, that's when the keeper will try to make a play."

Martin said he likes his goalie's chances better than the attacker's in one-on-one situations because the goalie faces less pressure.

"All he needs to do is win a ball," Martin said of his goalie. "The other guy has to collect the ball, look for an angle then have an accurate shot. Our keeper has to come out and win a ball, try anything to get it."

Central's Erik Allen keeps the ball away from Jackson's Ryan Schlick during first half Tuesday at Central. (Fred Lynch)

Dylan Blaylock opened the scoring when he broke in from Pickel's left and smacked his shot between Pickel and the near post.

"In past games, I've gotten too anxious and I've had bad touches," Blaylock said. "Coach told me to take a touch and then look from there."

Law Duncan padded the Indians' lead when Pickel rushed out of his goal to make a play on the ball. But Duncan avoided the diving Pickel, dribbled toward the gaping net and chipped in a soft shot.

"We do some breakaway drills in practices," Walton said. "Definitely something you prepare for. ... We saw it last year so you prepare just a little bit different for them."

Mueller's goal capped the first-half scoring.

"In the first half, we came out with four in the back and we pushed up a lot," Martin said. "Jackson sent midfielders through, causing a lot of problems. The strikers were staying marked up and the midfielders were the ones getting the through balls."

Jackson controlled the pace for the majority of the first half but neither team gained control for extended periods in the second half. Clayton Baker added an insurance goal with less than 15 minutes left in the second half.

"They put a lot of pressure on us," Martin said. "They were used to playing our style so they were picking off our outside passes. And they kept coming down and flying balls over our backs' heads."

Cody Boehme and Austin Baker combined for the shutout as the Indians improved to 6-4 while the Tigers dropped to 2-8.

"We just wanted to get back on our winning streak because we lost a couple," Blaylock said.