Jefferson Forest prevails in battle of soccer titans

There is no official Lynchburg-area boys soccer championship, but Wednesday night’s game between area high school powers Jefferson Forest and E.C. Glass sure felt like one.

It was a playoff-type game without playoff implications.

“It’s certainly the local darby, as the English like to say. You know, Liverpool-Everton and inner-city clubs playing each other,” JF coach Jedd Zaring said after the Cavaliers’ 3-1 win at City Stadium. “I don’t want to say it’s a rivalry as much as it’s a very intense game, because these guys all grew up with each other. A lot of them play on the same club team. A lot of them are friends, and Chip (Berry, E.C. Glass’ coach) and I go way back.”

The players and coaches put their friendships aside for 80 minutes. Unlike the last two years — the teams tied each other in 2006 and ’07 — Jefferson Forest got the better of E.C. Glass this time around. The Cavaliers’ midfielders out-played their Hilltopper counterparts for the bulk of the game, which created a bevy of scoring opportunities.
Midfielder David Rochow scored twice, and Timothy Bullock tallied a goal to help JF take the crown as the area’s best.

“It’s definitely one of our biggest games. We’re always trying to take every game seriously and 100 percent, but when we come here to City Stadium, there’s really something special about it,” said Rochow, who scored during the ninth minute to put JF on the board first and then tallied the finishing goal in the 72nd minute.

E.C. Glass (7-3-3) relies on its midfielders to create the bulk of its scoring opportunities. They couldn’t get much going against the Cavaliers.  JF (12-2) held the Hilltoppers without a shot in the first half.

“The key to the game tonight is what Forest did at midfield, winning the head balls and possessing the ball,” Berry said. “We just didn’t do a good job of winning 50-50 balls. They won the bulk of those and as a result brought the play to us, and that was the difference in the game.”

Glass switched from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 alignment in the second half, which created more scoring opportunities. Striker Kell Gay scored the Hilltoppers’ only goal with 8:52 left to cut JF’s lead to 2-1.

“I felt like we were right back in it,” said E.C. Glass senior midfielder Hodges Berry.

A little more than two minutes later, Rochow took a feed from midfielder David Jackson and scored the capping goal.

“We just let our guard down after we scored that goal, and our focus was not there. He made the great move and it’s 3-1, and we’re back in the same hole,” Chip Berry said.

Jefferson Forest visits Liberty Friday night. E.C. Glass hosts George Washington in two weeks with a Northwest Region playoff berth on the line.