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Spartans back to region final

By Randy Lefko Sports Editor
Posted 2/19/20

ORANGE PARK – St. Johns Country Day School boys soccer again joined the reknown girls soccer team to a region final playoff berth with the Spartans showcasing a hard-charging offensive front to a …

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Spartans back to region final


Posted

ORANGE PARK – St. Johns Country Day School boys soccer again joined the reknown girls soccer team to a region final playoff berth with the Spartans showcasing a hard-charging offensive front to a 4-1 region semifinal win over Lafayette County Saturday night on the St. Johns campus.

“This is about where we were last year,” said St. Johns boys coach Jimmy Merritt, just 28, and referring to the region final finish in 2019 that ended with a penalty kicks loss to Orangewood Academy. “No question, we have the ability and organization to move on. It’s a matter of execution. We are exceptionally good at preparing for the next game.”

For the girls, coach Mike Pickett got a forfeit win over St. Joseph Academy for his region semifinal with the Lady Spartans staying on target for an 11th state title; this in Class 2A. St. Johns’ girls and boys must upend Tallahassee Maclay to reach the state Final Fours; girls on Tues., Feb. 18, boys on Wed., Feb. 19 in Tallahassee.

Against Lafayette County (19-2-3), St. Johns (17-1) got the first goal at the 27 minute mark with Lafayette answering just two minutes later in what looked to be a scoring slugfest as both teams were flying up and down the pitch challenging each other’s defense.

St. Johns opened with a handful of goal shots on the Hornets goalie, Jose Pedro Resendiz, Jr., behind front line offense led by Dru Detlefsen who had his choice of slashes from John Linge and Landon Brafford into the goal box.

“I’ve been playing soccer since I was born and I think I have a great feel for the flow of our team,” said Detlefsen, who got the first free kick of the night early in the contest, but had it sail over the cross bar. “We’ve been playing together for about 5-6 years and it’s my job to find the open guy. I’m seeing passes three moves before I send the ball.”

One of the targets for Detlefsen, off the sideline, was forward Matthew Stratton who repeatedly got behind the Lafayette defense trying to bend in toward the goal only to have Lafayette’s very big defender Gabe Vervisch meet in just inside the goal box.

“The thing this year about these guys from last year is that this program has been young for a long time and now they are growing into that,” said Merritt. “They; John Linge, Landon and Dru, have finally hit that growth spurt and you can see the product on the field. They have great vision toward each other.”

With Max Monroe handling throw-ins, St. Johns got the first goal off a throw that Linge “chested” in at 27:55.

Lafayette answered at 25:11 with their own breakaway goal that got behind the Spartan defense with goalie Ryan Croft flipping backward to try and reach the high-loft that got just under the cross bar to tie the game at 1-1.

With Jonathan Moore and Jacob Graston patrolling the midfield line and challenging Lafayette’s attempts to go deep, Detlefsen took an interception from Graston and traveled downfield to find Brafford on a left side slash for goal two at 23 minutes.

Detlefsen continued puncturing the Lafayette defense just above the 18 yard line with Stratton taking a left side feed and going one-on-one with Vervisch before hitting the brakes and cutting right for his shot to score the game 3-1 just a minute later at 22:34.

“Our brand of soccer makes lot of teams chase a lot, it makes the other team cramp up and slow down,” said Merritt. “The thing that cues it all up is our movement off the ball. We are continually going forward.”

Both teams backed off their pace to the halftime break before returning and turning up the throttle again in the second half with Lafayette getting a hard shot in front of the Spartan goal but Linge taking the shot in his midsection to stop the advance.

“We were just trying to manage our guys to keep them fast and healthy out there,” said Merritt. “Our young guys can come in and keep the pressure on and that gives our starters a bit of a breather. We want fresh legs at the end of the game. Our guys put in a good shift in the second half.”

Near the second half water break, both teams were still figuring a way to penetrate past the midfield mark Lafayette creating scrambles in front of Croft, but going just wide on shots toward goal.

Merritt was putting in more personnel trying to ready for a final push by the aggressive Lafayette offensive front.

“One of our advantages is that we score from all angles because of Dru and because of our forwards,” said Merritt. “We really don’t have one big guy that gets the goals, but a handful of guys all capable of receiving passes and finishing runs.”

Linge, at 18:45 to go, finally got the final goal of the night at 18 minutes in the second half with a nifty left footed hit off a deep feed from Detlefsen.