Jaguars still winning despite scoring slump
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

JACKSON - In the early part of the 2006 schedule, the township high school boys soccer team was scoring goals in bunches. An unselfish attitude combined with making the extra pass resulted in the open man taking the shot.

In the past few games, however, Jackson's offense has struggled to find the back of the net. Despite the lack of scoring punch, the Jaguars still managed to come away with a pair of 1-0 victories. Jackson latest escape took place Monday when the Jags defeated Brick 1-0 in overtime.

Senior Jerry Mecca scored an unassisted goal nine minutes and two seconds into the extra session to give Jackson a 1-0 win. Mecca blasted a shot from the 18-yard line that beat the Brick goaltender and set off a wild celebration by the Jags.

The Jags squared off against Toms River East Tuesday afternoon for the Shore Conference A South title.

"We're still getting plenty of scoring opportunities," Jackson coach Steve Bado said. "For some reason the ball isn't finding the back of the net the way it was earlier in the year. We just need to keep at it. We're creating opportunities and need to cash in on them."

Indeed, the Jackson offense had a huge advantage in shots on goal against Brick. The Jags outshot their opponent by a gaudy 32-11 margin. A couple of tough breaks, however, allowed Brick to remain in the game.

"We had two shots that hit the crossbar and two others that hit the side post," Bado said. "We very easily could have scored a number of other goals in the game. We're doing a great job of applying pressure at that end of the field. Sooner or later the shots will start to fall again."

With the victory, Jackson improved to 11-1-2 and owns a conference mark of 10-1-2. Toms River East, on the other hand, comes into to Tuesday's meeting with a conference record of 11-1-1.

"Everything is riding on that game," Bado said. "They are a very good team. We just need to keep our composure. I believe we're a more skilled club than they are. We know they are going to be overly aggressive. We need to be prepared to deal with that."

In a 1-0 win over Southern, Mike Lisuzzo scored the game winner. Lisuzzo took a feed from Ben Rodkey and beat the Southern goalie. Again the offense was presented with a lot of scoring opportunities only to come away with a single goal, Bado said.

Lady Jags capture A South crown

With a 3-0 win over Toms River South and a 2-2 tie against Southern over the weekend, the Jackson girls took the Shore Conference A South title.

On Monday, Jordan Bunch scored the game-winner as Jackson defeated Brick, 2-1. Kierstyn Mabey assisted on the game winner for the Lady Jags, who improve to 11-2-1. Kelly Lyons scored Jackson's other goal. The Lady Jags trailed 1-0 at half, but registered two second-half goals to rally for the win.