Central Boys Soccer Takes Aim At Another Successful Season

If you take a look at the roster of the 2011 Central Regional boys soccer squad, it's easy to see why coach Rob Bechtloff has concerns.

"We're young. We have seven seniors, seven juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen," said Bechtloff, who's in his 24th season as head coach of the Golden Eagles.

More than that, he knows his team is wearing a giant target -- the kind of target that comes with winning back-to-back titles in Shore Conference Class B South.

Add to it that Central reached the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III tournament while finishing 11-6-1, and there's a lot of pressure.

Pressure can be a good thing, however.

After opening the season on Monday with 1-0 loss to Brick on the Green Dragons' home field, Bechtloff said he pulled aside his senior captains, TJ DenBleyker and Schyler Jaworowski, and talked to them.

"I told them if we went 0-2, we probably had no chance at winning the division," Bechtloff said.

Wednesday's game at in Little Egg Harbor against Pinelands Regional was sure to be another test.

The youth aspect of the Golden Eagles was visible early in the game. Whether it was nerves or simply a matter of still working out the kinks of blending players, Pinelands was able to push the ball into the Central defensive end repeatedly, finally breaking through with a goal about 5 minutes in.

DenBleyker, a forward, called on his teammates to communicate more, and soon Central began to steady itself, working the ball upfield and keeping it in Pinelands' end for much of the rest of the first half.

At halftime, trailing 1-0, Bechtloff addressed the team for a bit, then walked up the sideline, leaving DenBleyker and Jaworowski to talk to their teammates.

"I put a lot of faith in my captains," Bechtloff said. "They have my back and I have theirs."

From the opening kickoff of the second half, Central nearly camped out in the Wildcats' end of the field. The result was Central's Blake Czajkowski, a freshman midfielder, getting free on the left side and beating a defender to a cross from DenBleyker to score and tie the game.

With any young team, consistency can be an issue, and that was certainly true on Wednesday, as there was a defensive lapse that lasted three or four minutes that nearly allowed Pinelands to take the lead.

Dakota Thomson, one of two senior goalkeepers for the Golden Eagles, was forced to make a few difficult saves, and a friendly crossbar stopped another shot that looked to be a certain goal. 

That seemed to wake Central up again, and the Golden Eagles settled down. Myles Gortva, who had been in front of the Wildcats' net numerous times during the afternoon, gathered in a loose ball on the right wing and carried it into the 18 with a defender trying to stop him.

The Pinelands keeper came out to challenge, but Gortva never flinched, deftly tapping the ball to his left, away from the keeper, and finishing off the goal.

"That was huge," Bechtloff said after the game. "To come out of here with a win as opposed to a tie will be a huge lift to the boys."

While Bechtloff cited his captains' leadership -- "They willed this team to win," he said -- it's clear that Central has a lot going for it already.

There's plenty of speed in the front line and midfield, as the Eagles -- once they settled down -- routinely won 50-50 balls. The playmaking and shooting ability of DenBleyker is solid -- the senior had several shots that forced the Pinelands keeper to make a save -- as is that of several of the midfielders and forwards, whom Bechtloff rotated frequently on Wednesday. And the supporting cast of the team displayed great potential.

If the mental part of the game catches up to the skills, Central has every right to believe it can three-peat in Class B South and perhaps go further.

"I believe we'll compete in the division," Bechtloff said. But from the fire in his eyes and the commands he gives his team, there's no question he's seeking much more for them.

For now, their next challenge is beating Monsignor Donovan in the Golden Eagles' first home game on Friday at 3:45 p.m.

The 2011 varsity roster: TJ DenBleyker, Skyler Jaworowski, Dakota Thomson, Grant Dula, Dan Carbon, Joe Pellicio, Andrew Stazzone, Ryan Hojnowski, Myles Gortva, Corey Geoghegan, Doug Jensen, Blake Czajkowski, Sean Morris, John Seaton, Josh Packen, Luke Aceto, Kyle Kaiser, Rachid Zidani, Brett Lobdell.