Castrejon scores twice in South Tama’s ranked win over Clear Creek-Amana

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - South Tama County senior Jonathan Castrejon, right, celebrates in front of Clear Creek-Amana’s Joshua Nelson after scoring his second goal in the Trojans’ 2-0 victory over the Clippers in Tama on Wednesday. Castrejon now has 31 goals on the season, one shy of tying the STC single-season record.

TAMA — Seemingly every time South Tama County senior Jonathan Castrejon has touched the ball this season good things have happened, and that run of success continued on Wednesday evening.

Castrejon scored two goals in the first half of the Class 1A No. 12 Trojans’ 2-0 victory over Class 2A No. 15 Clear Creek-Amana at Trojan Field, one in the 12th minute and another in the 36th. That brought his season total to 31 goals, the second-most in the entire state regardless of class, but Castrejon said his scoring ability is a direct result of his team’s play.

“They are coming from the whole team that’s putting the effort on. They are pushing me, everyone on the team, to be better every day,” Castrejon said after his ninth multi-goal game of the season. “We are working hard in practice to make sure everybody is good, so I just get excited to score more goals and more. Right now I’m trying to get the school record with 33 goals, and I am almost there.”

Castrejon is now just one goal back of tying South Tama record holder Adrian Castanon, who had 32 goals for the Trojans during the 2015 season.

STC head boys soccer coach Nate Van Dyke said Castrejon does so much more for his team than just score goals.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - South Tama County junior Osmar Galvez, right, sends a shot past Clear Creek-Amana defender Jackson Rosenberg and toward Clipper goalkeeper Blake Mallie (0) during the first half of the Trojans’ 2-0 win on Wednesday in Tama.

“He’s a special player for us and he’s a good leader,” Van Dyke said. “He’s a good guy to have on your side and he’s not doing it from the forward position, he’s doing it from the center mid position and we need him in the middle because he’s got to touch the ball all the time and help us out with key possessions.”

Both of Castrejon’s goals came after great setups by teammates in the forward position. The first in the 12th minute came on a nice cross from sophomore Tony Nunez and the second came on a through-ball from junior Jeffrey Fuentes.

Castrejon said the way his teammates are in the right places at the right time is how they succeed as a whole.

“We are always in practice thinking of our positions and how we can run so the midfield, Jorge Davila, can send it to me and the forwards drop back and I start running up,” he said. “That’s a formation we do in practice and we have been practicing it for a long time, and it’s been working pretty good.”

Coming into the game the Clippers (8-2) hadn’t lost since their second game of the season and were on top of the WaMaC Conference West Division while the Trojans (10-4) were coming off a 3-0 loss to 1A No. 1 Waterloo Columbus.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - South Tama County junior Jorge Davila (10) takes contact from a slide by Clear Creek-Amana defender Julius Augustin (18) during the first half of the Trojans’ 2-0 win over the Clippers in Tama on Wednesday.

Van Dyke said given the situation, his team did an incredible job flipping the script and picking up a huge win.

“They lost their first two games, they haven’t lost in like a month and a half,” Van Dyke said of his opponent. “We looked tough, that was one of our best games and it was 11 guys, an 11-person effort there, so that was fun.”

While Castrejon had all the scores, he wasn’t the shots leader. Junior forward Osmar Galvez finished with seven total shots, five on goal, but he just wasn’t able to sneak one by CCA goalkeeper Blake Malli.

Galvez has brought his game to an even higher lately, Van Dyke said, and he is tied for the team lead in assists with Castrejon and Davila with nine.

“It’s hard to narrow it down to just one guy, the whole team is playing really well,” Van Dyke said.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Trojan keeper Guillermo Garcia wasn’t challenged too often, but he did finish the night with three saves and remained vigilant throughout the game, even thwarting a late scoring attempt by the Clippers.

“He can stop a ball, it’s a good night if he’s not having to do a whole lot of work but he’s getting better along with everyone,” Van Dyke said of his freshman goalkeeper. “When you have that high expectation on your team that you want to win games and be a great team, people start rising up to that level of expectations.”

South Tama has met nearly every challenge it has faced so far, but the close to its season might be its hardest stretch. Including the game against the Clippers, the last four contests are all against ranked opponents.

The next one will be the toughest as well, with 2A No. 2 Marion on the docket on Friday at 4:30 p.m. in Marion, but Van Dyke said the boys know they have what it takes to finish strong heading into the postseason.

“I think we just have to keep our focus, keep our goals at the forefront of our mind and practice how we play,” he said. “We have a team that can be successful, but we have our work cut out for us.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Because of the win on Wednesday, South Tama also has a chance to win the WaMaC West outright with a win over Williamsburg on Tuesday, and Castrejon said that would tick the first goal off the list.

“This title has not been at our school for a long time. It’s exciting to try to win it and that’s the first goal that we made for our team, to win the West conference,” he said. “Now we just have to take care of Williamsburg, that’s it, and we bring the conference back for our school and for all the people.”

South Tama County 2, Clear Creek-Amana 0

At Tama

First Half

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

STC — Jonathan Castrejon (Tony Nunez), 11:19.

STC — Castrejon (Jeffrey Fuentes), 35:03.

Second Half

No scoring.

Goalkeepers — CCA: Blake Malli (8 shots on goal-6 saves); STC: Guillermo Garcia (3-3).

Shots — CCA 8, STC 20.

Shots on Goal — CCA 3, STC 8.

Corner Kicks — CCA 4, STC 2.

Yellow Cards — Trevor King, CCA, 35:41; Castrejon, STC, 35:41; Fuentes, STC, 35:41.

: T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON – South Tama County senior Jonathan Castrejon, right, celebrates in front of Clear Creek-Amana’s Joshua Nelson after scoring his second goal in the Trojans’ 2-0 victory over the Clippers in Tama on Wednesday. Castrejon now has 31 goals on the season, one shy of tying the STC single-season record.

: T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON – South Tama County junior Osmar Galvez, right, sends a shot past Clear Creek-Amana defender Jackson Rosenberg and toward Clipper goalkeeper Blake Mallie (0) during the first half of the Trojans’ 2-0 win on Wednesday in Tama.

: T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON – South Tama County junior Jorge Davila (10) takes contact from a slide by Clear Creek-Amana defender Julius Augustin (18) during the first half of the Trojans’ 2-0 win over the Clippers in Tama on Wednesday.