North Augusta boys' soccer ended Indian Land’s season with a 3-1 win in round two of the Class AAAA playoffs.
With a bye in the first round, North Augusta started its playoff run on Wednesday at home.
After seizing scoring opportunities in both halves and keeping the Warriors at bay defensively, the Jackets earned what head coach Brent DeGennaro called one of their best finishes this year.
“I'm excited,” he said. “I'm excited for these kids because they work really, really hard and I know that we've got a good team if we can just finish, and tonight we finished better than we have all season. We took advantage of our chances, so I'm excited, excited for them.”
Senior Jack Stevens scored the first goal early in the first half off of a corner kick. The Jackets spent most of the first half wrestling for possessions of the ball and breaking up any of Indian Land’s momentum.
A game-changer for North Augusta was Justus Holden guarding the goal. Holden stopped several close shots to keep the Jackets in the game in both halves.
DeGennaro credited the players, like Stevens and Holden, who lead the team both on and off the field for their success throughout the year.
“We have a bunch of leaders on this team,” he said. “I mean some guys are leaders with their voice and some guys are leaders with their play, but I'm super, super fortunate that we have a bunch of leaders.”
The Warriors responded to tie the game midway through the second half. With a new sense of pressure in the air, North Augusta dialed in to score just two minutes later to regain its lead.
From there, DeGennaro encouraged his team from the sideline to control the ball, taking off the pressure to score in the final 10 minutes of the game. Even with the main focus taken off of scoring, the Jackets tacked on another goal from Gavin Rodriguez to extend its lead in the final 3 minutes.
North Augusta isn't strangers to big moments, which helps keep the Jackets grounded throughout the playoffs.
“Two years ago they played in the state championship game,” DeGennaro said. “Last year they were in the semifinals; club soccer, they've played at an incredibly high level. So these are important as these games are, they're just another big game. They've played in a ton of them so they stay pretty calm and collected because of the experience they've got.”
The Jackets stay at home to play Riverside on Friday in round three at 6 p.m. Riverside finished the regular season with a 13-5-1 record and a 6-2 region record.
DeGennaro said for the Jackets to keep winning during the playoffs, they have to control the game and establish their playing style.
"Don't let the other team force us into playing a different style than we want to play," he said. "We like to keep the ball, play possession, knock it around. And if we stick to what we know and do the things that we know, then we'll be successful."
