Jackson tops E-W 1-0

Published 9:47 pm Tuesday, May 10, 2011

EVERET — The decade-long drought is over for Jackson High School boy’s soccer.

For the first time since 2001, the Timberwolves will play in the state tournament thanks to a 1-0 victory over Edmonds-Woodway in a 4A District 1 semifinal at Everett Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.

“Jackson has not been to state since 2001, so we’re on a 10-year dry stretch,” Jackson coach Brett Norton said. “It’s incredible to be able to finally go to state. We’ve been so close. Last year we were the No. 1 seed and thought we’d make it, but lost (in districts).

“Building a program, you’ve got to slowly learn how to win, and we’re finally there. It wasn’t the prettiest win tonight, but we gutted it out and pulled it off. I’m proud of the guys.

Thanks to a spectacular first-half goal by junior defender Luke Hong and 80 minutes of solid defending, the Timberwolves (16-1) advanced to Thursday’s district championship game against Mariner, the only team to beat Jackson this season.

Edmonds-Woodway (6-11-1), which upset Marysville Pilchuck last weekend to stay alive in the postseason, plays Snohomish Thursday in a loser-out game.

Just six days earlier, Jackson thumped the Warriors by a 4-0 margin, but it was much tougher going this time around. For most of the game, the teams were evenly matched, but the difference ended up being Hong’s long-range strike in the 22nd minute.

Moments earlier, freshman midfielder Cameron Laird fired a low shot that forced Edmonds-Woodway keeper Erik Whitney to make a diving save. That resulted in a corner kick, and when the initial kick was cleared to the top of the box, Hong settled the ball and fired a 25-yard rocket into the top left corner of the net.

It was the junior defender’s fifth goal of the season. He said he has hit “maybe one or two” shots that good in his life. “Not many,” he added.

“For an outside back to have a shot like that to win a district game, that’s incredible,” Norton said.

Guy Shively, who leads Jackson with 18 goals, said it was fitting that a defender got the game-winner on a night when the defense helped carry Jackson to victory.

“Luke is an amazing defender,” Shively said. “He gets up the line and hustles back all the time. He’s 24/7 work hard. We appreciate him as a player. … I knew that shot was going in. I’ve seen him shoot plenty of times in games and practice. He has a good shot.”

The Warriors played well enough to keep the game from getting away from them like it did last week. However, they were not able to generate enough scoring chances to come up with an equalizing goal.

“Yeah, we held them to one, but we weren’t dangerous,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Tony Gilman said. “We were not dangerous in the final third, and that’s the thing that was disappointing.”

And while Gilman didn’t want to claim any moral victory for being more competitive against the Timberwolves this time around, Jackson’s coach saw a much improved Warriors’ squad than the one his team beat by four goals a week earlier.

“Totally different team,” he said. “They came out and played hard. It was 50-50 possession. They played us strong, they came out with a lot of heart and played well.”

In the end, however, Jackson was still the better team thanks to Hong’s goal, and for the first time since these players were young children, the Timberwolves are state-tournament bound.

“It’s a great accomplishment because it shows how hard we’ve worked this season,” Hong said. “This shows that we belong with the best teams in the state.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.