OAKWOOD, Ga. — After a sluggish offensive performance in the second round of the Class 4A playoffs, No. 1-ranked Johnson wasted little time showing that it is still as potent as ever.
The Knights scored three goals in three minutes to take quick control en route to a 7-1 win over Whitewater on Tuesday at The Dungeon in the Elite 8 round. The win moved Johnson (19-0) into the semifinals for a fifth consecutive year.
Johnson attacked from the opening kickoff. The Knights had 14 shots in the opening half. They finished with 30 for the game. Whitewater keeper Baine Thompson was forced to make at least a half-dozen diving stops, or it would have been even worse.
The Knights’ Big Three of Jorge Sandoval, Ramon Aguilar and Edgar Vazquez combined for four goals. Johnson coach Frank Zamora said it was a welcome sight and a marked improvement over the previous round.
“Those three guys at the top? They are lethal,” Zamora said. “The guys came out ready to play. To score three goals early like that is huge. We played our game and played aggressive throughout.”
Last week, Zamora talked about finishing. They did that on Tuesday.
“It’s really about taking advantage of the opportunities you get,” he said. “You’re not always going to get (20) that many shots, so it’s more about the conversion rate. We did a great job tonight.”
Despite the dominating effort, Whitewater (15-4-3) got the initial shot in the opening minute when Eli Bannister gathered in a deep ball inside the box. But Johnson keeper Kristian Hernandez was able to make the save.
From there, it was nearly all Knights over the next 39 minutes. Johnson sent wave after wave at Thompson, with Daniel Trujillo chipping in a nice shot over Thompson off a great pass from Vazquez for a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute.
It only took 70 more seconds for Vazquez to get in on the act, blasting in a 22-yard shot off a corner to make it 2-0. Vazquez struck again a minute later, sliding in a low shot past Thompson from 15 yards out for a 3-0 lead.
The Wildcats’ then snapped the Knights’ six-match shutout streak when Bannister was able to track down a long throw-in over the defense just outside the box. Bannister then beat two Johnson defenders and Hernandez to cut the lead to 3-1 with just under 28 minutes left.
But Johnson kept the pressure on as Sandoval scored six minutes later, and Jalil Chavez made it 5-1 in the 29th minute, and it went to the half that way.
Johnson continued to press the attack in the second half. Ramon Aguilar chased down a beautiful long ball from Sandoval and beat a Whitewater defender and Thompson with a low sliding shot for a 6-1 lead in the 48th minute.
Justin Silva scored with just 11 minutes left to make it 7-1.
Not long after Johnson finished off Whitewater, North Oconee knocked off Cairo in the other Elite 8 matchup on their side, setting up an All-Region 8-4A showdown at The Dungeon for a spot in the finals.
“I don’t really care who we got, but (I was hoping) it would be North Oconee,” Aguilar said. “They know us, and we know them, but we’ve beaten them once already, and we feel good playing them again. ”
