Isabella Duran is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Centennial High School for AZPreps365.com

The Centennial boys soccer team managed to keep its game against Ironwood at 0-0 for the first 50 minutes Thursday, but then the goals started coming.  

When time expired, Ironwood had a 4-0 victory.

The Coyotes (1-7) were down five starting players but that didn’t discourage them from playing together as one to hold the Eagles scoreless for the majority of the game. 

Ironwood (3-1) did not waste any time trying to score. They came strong onto the field with two shots on goal in the first four minutes of the game. 

The defense stopped every attack that came toward the Coyotes goalkeeper, freshman Jaden Quemada, who used his whole body to protect the goal. Throughout the game, he dove, jumped, reached, and even went one-on-one with an Ironwood forward to save the ball. 

Early in the first half, an Ironwood forward was wide open dribbling the ball down the right side of the field. He saw an opportunity to score from far and decided to take it. The ball traveled through the air looking to hit the back of the net, but Quemada jumped about a foot off the ground to catch the ball, preventing an early goal. 

Each attack from Ironwood came strong toward the defensive line of Centennial but Brysen Gardner  ran alongside the player who had possession creating that pressure which led to him clearing the ball out of the 18 yard box. 

At the end of the scoreless first half, Centennial had only one shot on goal, while Ironwood had nine.

Centennial coach Dan Gough talked to his team during halftime about how to prepare for the second half.

“We talked about breaking the game down in 5-10 minute sections," Gough said. "If you get through five minutes of it being 0-0 then you can get through another five minutes being 0-0 and build those sections as much as you can.” 

At the start of the second half, both teams brought a different type of energy.

The Coyotes were able to hold their own. Quemada displayed his athleticism by having two incredible saves back to back. The first save had him diving about five feet to hold onto the ball from a strong shot.  On the next save he deflected a shot that was inside the penalty box allowing another Centennial defender to kick the ball out of bounds. 

Twelve minutes into the second half, Ironwood scored its first goal. The play started from a long 30 yard throw-in to land right in front of Quemada, but an Ironwood forward headed the ball into the goal. 

Ironwood added two more goals in the next six minutes.

Ironwood coach Tim Beck said his team did not play their best in the first half but improved in the second. 

“In the second half we shook off the rust a little bit and for 15-20 minutes we played the way we expected to play for the entire game,” Beck said. 

The biggest takeaway from Wednesday’s game came from Gough and team captain Michael Whalen. 

“The fact that we managed to go a half tied with a team that would be in the mix for the state championship, I am proud of my team,” Gough said. 

“Overall this was a good team [Ironwood] so we can’t feel too bad about losing, but for as well as we played we should be happy about the result,” Whalen said.

The Coyotes had two shots on goal, five saves, and one corner kick. The Eagles had 15 shots on goal, zero saves, and seven corner kicks. 

Centennial (1-7) will host Horizon (1-4-1) on at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Ironwood (3-1) will host Sunrise Mountain (5-1) at 6 p.m. Monday.