High school soccer: Davis celebrates long-awaited win over Jesuit

The crowd at Davis High School’s soccer field started a countdown at the end of Thursday afternoon’s boys’ game. They counted down the remaining seconds, even though there’s no official clock at the end of the game.

When the final whistle blared, the crowd roared their approval as bench players sprinted to midfield to celebrate.

This wasn’t just any game, this was a 2-1 win over Jesuit. The last time the Blue Devils beat the Marauders, in 2014, most of the players were in elementary school.

There was plenty to celebrate Thursday. Senior Davis midfielder Zach Anderson, who had an assist, knows all about it.

“It’s insane,” he said. “You know, Davis hasn’t beaten Jesuit for so long. To have the boys out here beating Jesuit, it’s the best feeling you can have. And we’ve got some alumni out here as well, supporting us and the fans too. They’ve all been through it. So it’s really special.”

Davis coach Alex Park nodded. Jesuit has won a league title every year since 1988. Now Davis is in the thick of a fight for the Delta League title, which will be decided in the next few weeks.

“Just beating them, everything else doesn’t matter,” Park said. “You can lose all the games you want. But if you beat these guys, it’s all great. you saw the reactions. .... It’s hard to explain to people it’s a big game isn’t it? No, it’s not just a game. It’s different.”

It was very different, and not just for the atmosphere. Davis High has a strict mask mandate, indoors and out. The baseball team took batting practice next to the soccer field, with nearly every player masked up while in the field or at the plate. Photography students wore masks while they took pictures around campus.

Jesuit was without four starters on its varsity roster because of coronavirus protocols; Davis was also missing four players. Players on the Davis sideline masked up throughout the game.

The play on the field was a dose of normalcy amid a pandemic surge.

Lucas Liu scored the first goal for Davis in the first minute of play; Anderson assisted Simon Vaca-Lorenzi’s goal with 24 minutes remaining in the first half as Davis took a 2-0 lead and seemed poised to run away.

Jesuit answered with a strike from junior captain Kaleb Afsari, who took advantage of a Davis miscue to rocket a goal in with nine minutes left in the first half.

Then things got raucous, as emotions came into play. There was pushing, shoving and chatting between opposing teams. Early in the second half, two Jesuit players earned yellow cards. Shortly thereafter, a Davis player got a yellow card for a foul and then a red for continuing to argue with the official as he left the field.

Down a man, the Devils switched to a 4-4-1 alignment.

The Devils’ back line proved sturdy, though. Asked to name the standouts, Anderson cited the play of all his teammates on the back line. Kai Peris: “He’s crazy back there.” Zayn Dmeiri: “Exceptional.” Quentin Wallace: “Came into the game hurt and played the entire game.” Justin Rager: “He can run for miles.”

Longtime Jesuit coach Paul Rose said it was a good test for his young team, with just three seniors on the field Thursday.

“You know, it kind of just descended into a physical game. (Whenever we play) Davis, there’s a lot of fire to the game. It was a good lesson I think for us because they are a very physical team.”

Rose said Charlie Black had a standout game for Jesuit, pressing the attack and controlling midfield play as the Marauders continually tested the Davis defense in the final 30 minutes.

And though it was a loss, Rose and the Marauders are still in the thick of the Delta League race. With players missing on both sides in an early league contest, anything could happen.

“You can only interpret so much of it,” Rose said. “I told the kids, if we’re gonna take a loss, I would really rather take a loss now than take a loss later. … “It’s just one game. If it helps make us better, which I hopefully think it will, then that’s good for us.”

The two teams will meet again Feb. 1, possibly with a league title on the line. The Devils will be ready.

“It’s just a battle every year and the boys are ready,” Anderson said. “We all know that it’s gonna be physical every time and we’re willing.”