By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
They may not win a lot in August or September, but the Greenwood Blue Jays sure are tough to beat in October.
Greenwood’s annual fall surge continued Thursday night with a 3-1 win over Class 1 No. 4-ranked New Covenant Academy.
Sophomore Hugh McWay set up for Zach Bailey for a pair of second-half goals as Greenwood, who beat No. 1 Laquey on Sept. 4, picked up its second win over a state-ranked team this season.
Greenwood (5-10 overall) and NCA (14-5 overall) play again in two weeks in the Class 1 District 5 tournament semifinals. Before Thursday’s outcome, the Warriors had won seven of their last eight games.
“This win is a depiction of coming together at the right time and trying to go into districts strong,” said Greenwood coach Chris Shull. “We’ll take the win in the regular season with our eyes on the bigger prize.”
Since 2015, the Blue Jays are 19-4 in the month of October. In August and September, Greenwood plays a schedule littered with teams at the Class 2-4 levels.
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“You look at their scores and schedule, they don’t play a fluff schedule,” said NCA coach Eric Crain. “They play some big schools and it gets them prepared for this.”
McWay set up Bailey for nearly identical goals in the second half. In the 66th minute, he sent a crosser from the right corner– that may have scored anyway without the assistance – to Bailey for a header.
“We’ve been moving people around all season,” Shull said. “Just like every other team, we go through injuries so we have to plug people in here and there. The bench has stepped up.
“We think we found a few key positions – and those players, obviously – and it just seems to be working for us at the right time.”
NCA nearly tied it two minutes later but hit the post on a shot attempt. Greenwood slammed the door shut in the 73rd minute as McWay sent another cross from the right corner to Bailey for the goal.
“They did exactly what soccer’s about: take it to the corner and put it across. Good things will happen,” Crain said. “They got us out of our positions. We were chasing instead of trying to control, slow them down and give the rest of our team time to get caught up.”
Greenwood struck early with a goal from John Sharp in the 4th minute. NCA’s Dake Winslow scored in the 12th minute to tie the match.
The Warriors were down two starters entering the match and lost a starting defender in the first half. Crain expects to have all three starters back in time for districts.
“Both teams don’t want to give something away when we have to (play) again soon,” Crain said. “It just came down to Greenwood worked harder than we did tonight.”
Greenwood closes the regular season with a home game against Rogersville (Oct. 16) and a trip to Thomas Jefferson in Joplin (Sept. 18). NCA plays at Aurora (Oct. 15) and Cassville (Oct. 16) next week.
