Handley boys beat Colonels for fifth straight win

WINCHESTER — This isn’t the 2021 Handley boys’ soccer team.

The Judges scored twice in the final 17 minutes to beat James Wood 2-0 and continue their remarkable rebound from 2021 at James R. Wilkins Jr. Stadium.

Handley (5-1-1, 4-1 Class 4 Northwestern District) earned its fifth straight win and fourth straight shutout in beating the defending district champion Colonels (5-3-1, 2-2-1), who ended the Judges’ disappointing 0-8-3 season last year with an 8-0 victory in the Class 4 Northwestern District quarterfinals.

Junior Jonathan Romero scored the winning goal on a corner kick rebound in the 63rd minute, then sophomore Jag Fitzsimmons-Call battled a long ball away from a defender and blasted it in with a minute to go for an insurance goal.

Scoring opportunities were hard to come by Thursday — the Judges finished with a 6-4 shot edge — but Handley continues to give itself opportunities to win with its overall team play.

“It feels amazing to be winning every single game now, especially against James Wood,” said Romero, who kicked in a ball that freshman defender Jackson Justice headed straight ahead off the left post after sophomore Dash Fitzsimmons-Call played his corner from the right side.

A returning varsity player, Romero referenced the 8-0 district score in his comments. Handley coach Cosmo Balio told the Judges before the game to keep that score in their heads prior to the game.

The Judges didn’t come out firing. Both coaches agreed that the Colonels had the better performance in a first half that didn’t see the Judges take a shot until there was only a couple minutes left. But Handley only allowed one shot that seriously tested Judges goalkeeper Owen Turnbull (four saves).

“I feel like we’ve just kind of been preaching about being one percent better every day,” said Balio, who is leading the Judges for the first time since guiding them to the 2016 conference and district titles. “The guys have really bought into that. There’s nothing really special or different to what we’re doing. I feel like they’ve just bought into being a team, and they tasted something last year that they never want to taste again.”

Justice is one of the center backs for a defense that also features sophomore James Fowler, senior Robert Avant and freshman Eniel Cedillo Ramos Jr. Handley has just four seniors overall, but the team has grown a lot from a 0-1-1 start.

“Definitely our composure and our confidence,” Jackson said. “I feel like at the beginning we were a little skittish with a lot of freshmen and sophomores coming in, but as the season has gone on and we kept winning games, we’ve just built up confidence and just gotten a lot better.”

James Wood had the game’s first dangerous opportunity, as Ryan King headed a long throw-in into the box from Micah Frigaard toward the upper left corner of the goal. Turnbull punched the header away from goal for a corner kick, though.

The Colonels did well over the remainder of the half. Balio said he challenged his players at halftime to raise their level, and in the midfield he liked the play of the Fitzsimmons-Call brothers and he felt Edgar Sanchez provided a spark.

Balio praised Handley’s defensive back line for its communication this year, which is leading to success. He said the Judges’ overall defense starts with what they do at the forward position, though.

“We try to keep the line of confrontation higher to take the heat off our back line,” said Balio, who worked hard on the team’s fitness at the start of the season so the Judges could create more pressure all over the field. “[The back line is] reaping the benefits of pressure up top. And we have some trees in the back. I think in general we’re able to win balls in the air, and that helps us.”

One of those trees helped produce the winning goal. Jackson said no one was marking him on Dash Fitzsimmons-Call’s corner kick.

“As the ball came in I just flew in there and just tried to put my head on it, and it worked out,” Jackson said.

Romero was there for the tap-in, and Handley’s defense prevented James Wood from getting another shot off before Jag Fitzsimmons-Call’s goal. Ramon Diaz-Guzman had the assist.

James Wood lost for the third time in four games and has just one goal in those three losses.

“I thought we had the better of play in the first half, more opportunities in the first half and were doing our thing,” said Colonels coach Brian Sullivan, who still has yet to get Tristan Obert (eight goals, eight assists last year) back from an injury suffered six months ago. “But then very much like the Millbrook game last Friday and the Loudoun Valley game Monday, it’s us wearing down in the second half. I haven’t put my finger on whether it’s fitness yet, or we need to make some changes. But we’re just not creating enough opportunities going forward.

“And then there’s just this relentless pressure on our back line, and eventually, the other team is going to get a set piece or a corner or something that we make a mistake on. We have to get better.”

Balio said another factor in the team’s success is the rapport he has with Scott Bucey, a former assistant to Balio who took over as head coach after he left, and Seth Bridgeforth, who starred on the 2016 Handley team. Those three work well together, and the players are responding.

“We feed off each other, and the coaching has been brilliant in that aspect in that Scott interjects, then I interject, then Seth,” Balio said. “The kids absolutely look up to Seth as a role model and they’re always asking him questions.

“We’re clicking right now. I don’t know what the future for this team is, but I’m pretty happy with them right now.”

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at
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