JDHS boys defense keeps pitch even against West Anchorage

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys soccer team got a taste of one of the state’s quality sides as the West Anchorage Eagles came to Adair Kennedy Memorial Park on Friday evening and nearly took a win.

The Crimson Bears also did not take the win as the two sides tested each other on both sides of the pitch throughout intermittent rain.

JDHS played their best team game to date as all hands were needed to replaced injured junior defender Jesper Bennetsen. Among the many quality defenders, midfielders and forwards playing Friday for the Crimson Bears, seniors Ahmir Parker and Reed Maier and juniors Noah Ault and Elliot Welch were mentioned by JDHS coach Gary Lehnhart for their play.

“Ahmir is good at both ends of the field,” Lehnhart said. “It hurt us to lose Jesper because he is in our top 11 and that meant we had to put Ahmir in the back. So it costs us upfront a little bit. But he is more than capable of handling that job and he did a great job. But we also could use him on top, too. One way or the other you have to pay the fiddler.”

An example of Parker’s two-way prowess was evident in his leg strength as he cleared numerous balls from the Crimson Bears box area to midfield and beyond. And defensively, he and Ault had back-to-back plays as West was pushing into the Crimson Bears den, Parker laid his body out to block and shot and Ault marked players to win balls on three successive attacks.

“Scoring goals is always difficult,” Parker said when asked which position was harder, forward or defender. “Because there are so few of them and you run 100 times to score once. But when you have attackers like West does, it is a job for sure and Luca (West forward Luca Driscoll) and Noah (West forward Noah Robinson) and the rest they put me to work today, that’s for sure. They put me under fire for sure…I have a new admiration for Jesper now. I need for him to get healthy. I can’t do this full-time like he can.”

West would score the game’s first goal midway through the second half as Driscoll was awarded a penalty kick in the JDHS box and found a space to the right of diving sophomore Crimson Bears keeper Erik Thompson, who had chosen shooter’s left.

West would get another close shot attempt that JDHS’ Ault would mark away and another that Parker handled and still another that Maier turned back and started a press forward.

Maier would receive the team’s Lunch Pail Award for his all-out performance.

“They have some really quick players and I was just trying to keep a good eye on them,” Maier said.“And stay back as hard as I could while also trying to push up as best I could to stretch the field. It was a tough game, but we persevered.”

As good as Maier was on keeping his head in the game defensively and marking the West offensive players, it was his head on JDHS’ offense that saved the Crimson Bears’ night.

Trailing 1-0 midway through the second half, JDHS senior Kai Ciambor was awarded a free kick from distance and ripped a ball into the top of the West box where Maier was floating among defenders in the air and made contact to put a shot over the Eagles keeper and tie the game at 1-1.

Maier acknowledged the difficulty in both playing defense and the header.

“I’m going to say putting your head on one of Kai’s shots is harder because they are fast,” Maier said. “That free kick changed the whole game. It was really a momentum shift and it felt really good, it was awesome. It was a perfect ball. I just sort of jumped and hoped for the best and it all sort of worked out in the end.”

West would have two corner kicks in the last five minutes but the JDHS defense remained solid.

The two sides play again at noon Saturday, following the JDHS girls against the West girls at 10 a.m.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.