Finding firepower

Jacksonville High School soccer usually breezes past Carlinville in the two teams’ annual Saturday morning get-togethers. But not this year.

Two Crimson starters are injured. A few others learned Friday that they are academically ineligible to play as of now. As a result, head coach Steve West had to shuffle his lineup a bit, but still found enough firepower to get past the Cavaliers, 3-2, in non-conference action.

West did not say which players have been ruled ineligible. But team co-captain Ryan Benz, a senior midfielder, and freshman sweeper Leo Alfano are both injured. West said he did not know exactly how long the two of them will be out, but that at least in Alfano’s case, “it’s day-to-day.”

The Crimsons (7-2-2) got the jump on Carlinville Saturday when Garrett Metz knocked in a goal at 12:29 of the first period, after an assist by senior exchange student Tomas Faulk.

Later in the first half, after Carlinville’s Mike Vesper had tied the score with an unassisted goal, Tomas found net from an assist by freshman Jeremy Nggilari. Jacksonville led 2-1 at the break.

Jacksonville, which outshot Carlinville by a 17-3 margin, went up 3-1 late in the second half when freshman Patrick Nelson scored from a Metz assist. The Cavaliers closed to within 3-2 in the final minute on a goal by Matt Zimmer.

“It was a situation where we just used our bench,” said West. “Our younger kids came on and held it together.”

The Crimsons had a 5-2 edge in corner kicks. Senior goalkeeper Matt Douglass had two saves.

How long can the younger kids be counted on? How long will Jacksonville be without the starters it could not use on Saturday? The Crimsons are heading into perhaps their busiest week of the 2008 schedule: Monday at Springfield Lutheran, Tuesday at Chatham Glenwood, Thursday at Rochester and then Saturday at home against nemesis Quincy Notre Dame.

“(The injuries) come at a bad time,” West said. “We’re going into the toughest week of our schedule.”

Jacksonville’s JV squad improved to 9-1-1 overall after stifling Carlinville’s JV, 3-0 Saturday.