LAFAYETTE — The stakes weren’t quite as high as last year’s meeting in the state semifinals, but Peak to Peak and Jefferson Academy recognized the importance of Thursday’s regular season rematch.
Unfortunately for both sides, ongoing offensive woes resulted in a 0-0 draw, leaving Peak to Peak just short of securing complete revenge over its Metro League rival.
“With our team, we don’t see a tie against any team as a win. We think we can beat any team,” Peak to Peak midfielder Andrew Perczak said. “But the environment on our field and the circumstances that we had to go through, a tie, we’re not too mad at it.”
Jefferson Academy was arguably more disappointed with the draw, as the Jaguars dominated time of possession throughout but were unable to capitalize on countless corner kicks and free kicks.
“I think we played well as a team; we were getting it around,” said Jefferson Academy’s Troy Brown, who leads the Jaguars with 15 goals on the season. “It’s just in the attacking third, we got to be a little better. At the beginning of the season, we were putting them away pretty easily. But now, we’ve kind of fallen off a little bit.”
Jefferson Academy moved to 5-2-3 (0-1-3 3A/2A Metro League) while Peak to Peak now sits at 4-0-5 (1-0-3 Metro) following its fourth draw in the past five games. While a tie is technically better than a loss, Perczak aims to help the Pumas finish their final five regular season games strong.
“It’s definitely frustrating that we’re not winning games when we should be winning games, but we still got games left in the season,” Perczak said. “The playoffs are the most important games, too. We’re just preparing for that.”
As another silver lining, Peak to Peak extended its home regular season unbeaten streak to 20 games.
Jefferson Academy held control for most of the first half, highlighted by strong shots from Matteo Gagliano, Luca Arroyo and Jack Kane. Still, the Jaguars couldn’t sneak anything past Peak to Peak goalkeeper Drew Kraft, who recorded his seventh shutout of the season.
Much of the same occurred in the second half as Peak to Peak dodged several strong Jags’ scoring attempts. Two corner kicks and three free kicks were all nullified by the Pumas’ D in the first 35 minutes.
“It’s nerve-wracking and frustrating,” Jefferson Academy head coach Matt Cassell said. “Historically, we’re a program that tends to score quite a bit, so this is a little bit out of our character. We started with a lot of goals early, and we’re just trying to find that scoring form. And they’re confident. We’re close.”
Concurrently, Peak to Peak leaned on its strong defense and Kraft’s steady hands.
“We take a ton of defensive pride,” Perczak said. “We’ve let through one goal this season, and that’s definitely a huge thing for us.”
Peak to Peak and Jefferson Academy both have Metro League foe Denver Christian next on their respective schedules. The Pumas will visit the Thunder on Tuesday, followed by the Jaguars two days later.