Prep soccer: Jones’ hat trick leads Tommies over Panthers

Published 9:38 am Wednesday, April 29, 2009

MARYSVILLE — It must be the shoes.

Donning a pair of flashy green soccer cleats, Seth Jones was easy to spot Tuesday night. But his fancy footwear wasn’t just for show; he put his feet to good use.

Ignited by Jones’ three goals in the first half, Marysville-Pilchuck High School thumped the Snohomish Panthers 5-3 in a Western Conference North Division boys soccer game. John Crenshaw tallied two goals and an assist for the unbeaten Tomahawks (11-0-2, 35 points), who increased their lead over second-place Snohomish (10-3-1, 31 points).

Both teams are in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas regional rankings released Tuesday. The No. 8 Tomahawks backed up their higher ranking, zooming to a 5-1 lead midway through the second half before Snohomish (tied for No. 10 with Shorecrest) closed the gap.

With three regular-season games to go, M-P is in good position to earn the North title and a No. 1 seed into the Class 4A District 1 tournament. The Tomahawks play host to Monroe Friday, play at Lake Stevens Monday and play host to Arlington May 6.

“We’re just going to keep looking to succeed and always improve and learn from each game — hopefully just take it to the next level and finish first in league and go to districts,” said Jones, a senior midfielder and team captain.

Jones hopes green continues to be his lucky color. He plans to keep wearing the emerald-hued cleats, which he borrowed from a teammate and wore for the first time. “Definitely something to carry on the rest of the season,” said Jones, who earned his first varsity hat trick.

Snohomish quickly took a 1-0 lead when Brendon Gundry (Carson Pingrey assist) scored in the opening minutes. But M-P’s Jones scored three straight goals in a span of about 20 minutes, launching the Tomahawks to a commanding lead.

The key was “teammates really working hard, working for me, finding openings and just setting it up,” said Jones. “I was just fortunate enough to finish them in the back of the net.”

“Seth had some nice touches. He was really on,” Marysville-Pilchuck coach Geoff Kittle said.

In the previous M-P versus Snohomish game this season, the teams tied 2-2 March 30 at Snohomish High. This time, the Tomahawks played with more focus and emotion, Kittle said: “We’re a pretty talented team and sometimes we come into a game just thinking that talent’s going to get the job done. We don’t want to be the group of talented individuals. We want to be a group that’s playing with heart and determination.”

They achieved that in the first 40 minutes. Kittle called it his team’s best half of the season. After Jones scored three times, Crenshaw, a speedy junior midfielder, poked in a short shot for a 4-1 lead 7 minutes before halftime.

“They were just outworking us, outmuscling us,” said Snohomish coach Dan Pingrey, whose squad’s last two North games are against Oak Harbor and Cascade.

Thomas Sheets (Connor Moe assist) and Gundry scored second-half goals for the Panthers. Although Pingrey said he was pleased with his team’s effort in the final 20 minutes, the coach was troubled by the overall performance.

“It wasn’t a good focus tonight,” Pingrey said.

The goalkeepers were Kyle Bluhm (M-P) and Cody Melander (Snohomish).

Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.