Handley boys spoil James Wood's comeback attempt

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

Apr 20, 2018

WINCHESTER — The Handley boys’ soccer team let James Wood get back into Friday’s game at the Judges’ James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium, but the Judges didn’t let the game get away.

Mohamed Naama scored in the 57th minute to give Handley a 3-2 Class 4 Northwestern District win over the Colonels.

Naama’s goal spoiled James Wood’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit that started with a goal with one minute left in the first half . The triumph gave Handley (7-1, 5-1 district) its fifth straight win and a season sweep of the Colonels (3-6-2, 1-6).

“We stepped down for a little bit,” said junior forward Naama. “Our midfield did a lot better in the second half. Chris Nerangis [one goal Friday] did a great job. He had some great passes.”

A pass from sophomore midfielder Tucker Heglas — who assisted Owen Mattens (one goal, one assist) on the game’s first goal — helped pave the way for the winning score.

Heglas centered the ball from right side of the penalty box to Alex Pinon-Santos. The sophomore forward was denied by James Wood goalkeeper Jairo Reyes (five saves) with a kick save on his grounded shot, but Naama sent the rebound back in from about 12 yards out. Naama had hit the crossbar on a shot three minutes earlier.

“That was a bit unlucky,” said Naama of the shot off the crossbar. “I was glad to have another chance soon after that.”

Back with the lead, Handley didn’t lose its edge.

Over the final 23 minutes the Judges generated a couple of high-percentage opportunities that they weren’t able to finish, and prevented James Wood (3-6-2, 1-6) from seriously testing goalkeeper Joel Romero (four saves). The Colonels managed just one long-range shot on goal.

James Wood did manage two corner-kick opportunities in the 78th minute, but after Handley cleared the second one away the Colonels could not manage another scoring opportunity.

Handley coach Scott Bucey was pleased to see his team play more like it’s capable after halftime.

James Wood was able to tie the game in the 48th minute, but Handley owned a 9-3 shot edge in the second half, this after the Colonels owned a 5-1 shot edge over the final 10 minutes of the first half.

“It was a bit disappointing for that stretch,” Bucey said. “It seemed as if we mentally let go and got away from some of the basics of defending, and we allowed them to take advantage of that. They put some pressure on us there and were able to [score], and turned it into a fight coming into the second half.”

The fight got more interesting when James Wood senior forward Damon Schneider tied the game 2-2 in the 48th minute. Junior midfielder Drew Tanger threw the ball into the right side of the penalty box, Chris Garcia Ortega crossed the ball into the middle and Schneider finished the cross.

Bucey felt the Judges had been playing well in the second half before that goal, and he was glad to see that didn’t change after James Wood’s score.

“We came out with good energy at the start of the second half, and I was really pleased with how we were knocking the ball around and possessing it,” he said. “Unfortunately they got a goal off the throw-in, but our guys did a good job continuing what they were doing. We were carving out opportunities in the second half.”

Mattens scored the game’s first goal in the seventh minute after taking a long pass played along the ground from Heglas at midfield. Mattens had a defender on him, but he created some separation and got inside the penalty box. He then grounded a left-footed shot inside the far right post.

In the 21st minute, Handley played the ball short on a corner kick, and Mattens crossed the ball into the center of the penalty box. Nerangis redirected the ball into the net with his right foot to make it 2-0.

Down two goals, James Wood picked up its play in the final 10 minutes of the first half. After a couple of particularly dangerous opportunities, the Colonels finally broke through on the fifth of those five shots in the 39th minute.

Tanger lofted in throw-in from the right sideline from 30 yards away toward the goal box. The ball was deflected back to the middle of the penalty box, and Zyven Coffman ran onto the second-chance opportunity and blasted a low shot that beat Romero to make the score 2-1.

“Early in the game, I thought we might have come out a little bit tentative being that they beat us the first time like they did,” said James Wood coach Brian Sullivan, whose team lost 5-2 to Handley at James Wood on March 26. “We had more time than we realized and turned the ball over a little bit too much. They had lots of possession, and then we were running too much.

“Once we realized we had time, we started keeping more possession. I thought we played well in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but then our level went down. We fought until the end, but we were a little bit tired because of the way Handley played the first 30 minutes. They did such a good job keeping possession that we were running too much.”

Overall, Sullivan feels his team is improving. Starting with its 3-2 win over Millbrook on March 12, James Wood had won two of three games. Its loss in that stretch was 1-0 to Fauquier, which is unbeaten in district play.

“We’re in every single game,” Sullivan said. “If we can fix a few minor mistakes, we’ll be where we need to be at the end of the year.”

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