Boys Soccer: Johnsburg comes together for offensive clinic, takes down Woodstock 5-1

JOHNSBURG – Connor Benz quickly had a feeling Johnsburg would have a high-scoring match against Woodstock on Monday.

The Skyhawks moved the ball down the field and created two shots on goal that Blue Streaks’ goalkeeper Diego Landeros stopped before an offsides call wiped away what appeared to be a goal in the first minute.

Although Johnsburg failed to score at that time, Benz and his teammates knew that first minute was a hint of how the match would unfold as the Skyhawks scored three first-half goals and won 5-1.

“The team really connected today,” Benz said. “All the players were playing together. We all played our hardest, and I feel like we finally connected in a way where we’re all giving it our all and we’re all playing as a team. It means a lot to me that we could connect.”

Johnsburg (2-0-1, 2-0 KRC) didn’t wait long to score after that first-minute attack. Armando Garcia scored the match’s first goal when he buried a penalty kick with 35:28 left in the first half to give the Skyhawks a 1-0 lead.

Jacob Calhoun made it 2-0 when his booming shot from the top of the box made it into the goal with 26:14 left in the first half. Woodstock responded when Dominic Vogel scored off a scramble in front of the net to make it 2-1 with 22:22 left in the first, but Johnsburg took back its two-goal lead when Benz scored off a rebound to make it 3-1 with 13:32 left in the first half.

Kyle Jesuit scored off a corner kick with 21:32 left in the match to give the Skyhawks a 4-1 lead, and Benz finished the day with his second goal when he headed in a ball off a corner kick with 5:17 remaining in the match.

Benz credited the midfielders for letting the offense flow. The Skyhawks had spent the past few matches and practices working on moving the ball down the field for scoring opportunities, and Skyhawks coach Adam Bronars was happy to see different players get involved with the offense and score.

“It’s really important for us, too, because our conference is competitive, if you give all our opponents just one person to key on, it makes it difficult for us to score,” Bronars said. “So to have a lot of different players looking to score, it helps us attack, but it also helps all the other players because they want to feed off of it.”

Woodstock (4-4, 1-1 KRC) had opportunities to score throughout the match, especially in the second half, but the Blue Streaks couldn’t convert many chances. The team had six corner kicks and one free kick in the second half, but the Johnsburg defense and goalkeeper Preston Michel turned away all opportunities.

Michel finished the day with 20 saves.

“We just couldn’t finish, plain and simple,” Woodstock coach Matt Warmbier said. “I think we created as many, if not more opportunities than they did. The difference is that when they’re in front of the net, they put it into the back of the net, and we didn’t.”

Woodstock will look to regroup quickly as it hosts Byron on Thursday, while Johnsburg will host Marian Central on Friday as part of the Skyhawks Invitational.

While Bronars was proud of the way his team came together early in the season, he doesn’t want this moment to be what his players remember when the season ends.

He wants it to be the start of something special.

“Don’t let this be the highlight at the end of our season,” Bronars said. “We want that next game to be our next highlight, and then the next match. We want to continue to build throughout our season and have a match upon a match upon a match.”