• Photo Showcase: Metro Conference boys, girls tournament
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Omaha Creighton Prep flexed its muscle and mettle for a Metro title Monday night.
The second-ranked Junior Jays were impressive throughout, scoring just 29 seconds in and cruising to a 3-0 win over No. 9 Millard West in the boys final of the Metro Conference soccer tournament at Omaha Westside.
Prep completed a tough run through the tournament, beating third-ranked Omaha South 4-1 in the semifinals Saturday and the defending Class A champs for the title two days later.
“I think we're getting better,” Prep co-coach Jim Swanson said. “We're obviously very pleased with the way we've played of late.”
That play started almost immediately after the first whistle. Prep nearly punched in a goal 13 seconds in, kept the ball in the zone and scored when forward Jake Linden found a wide-open Matt Pritchard, who easily put away the game's first score less than half a minute in.
“It was a great goal,” Swanson said. “Jake and Matt work fantastically up front together. They really seem to know each other well.”
Pritchard was in the middle of things on the Junior Jays' second goal as well. He and teammate Joe Branstetter pinballed a corner kick a few times in front of the net before Branstetter put it away for a score in the 29th minute.
“It hit me in the face a couple of times before he got it,” Pritchard said.
Matt Wise netted the final Prep goal, a booming free kick from about 25 yards.
“It just wasn't there. Wasn't there today,” Millard West coach Ron Beernink said. “The speed of play, we haven't seen that this year. We haven't had a game like this at this level.”
In their 10 wins, the Junior Jays have beaten five teams that either are ranked or were ranked at the time. Monday's game with Millard West was the last check of sorts, testing if the Junior Jays could match Millard West's physical play.
“We feel like we can go that way, too,” Pritchard said.
Tom Hoover, Prep's other coach, said his team's ability to keep the ball was the answer to the Wildcats' toughness.
“Their size clearly concerned us,” Hoover said. “We have great respect for their physicality. But we feel like we possess the ball extremely well. Sometimes that can overcome that size.”
Om. Creighton Prep (10-1)....................2 1 -- 3
Millard West (6-3)..........................0 0 -- 0
Goals: OCP, Matt Pritchard, Joe Branstetter, Matt Wise.
Contact the writer:
850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com
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