Jefferson Forest’s soccer defense comes together at the right time

By Ted Allen
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: May 27, 2008

FOREST — The biggest concern for Jefferson Forest boys soccer coach Jedd Zaring this spring was shoring up a defensive line depleted by graduation.

He recruited two forwards — Jordan Smith and Andrew Dempsey, the team’s second-leading scorer last year — and backup goalkeeper Kyle Wachenheim as stopgap defenders.

They joined Branden Jannah, the only defender who had played the position on varsity, to form a makeshift defense to shield his son, fourth-year keeper Scott Zaring.

Though short on experience, the foursome was more physically imposing than last year’s diminutive defensive line and has emerged as a strength of the team rather than a liability.
“Last year, we had Hunter Smith (who) was an amazing player,” Smith said. “It’s hard to bring in a whole new defense that’s going to be as good.”

The unit struggled at first when the Cavaliers experimented with a flat-back four defense.

“It was a little rough,” Jannah said.

“It was horrible,” Smith added. “The first week was the worst. I was just learning the position.”

Not only was the team adjusting to new personnel, but to a new alignment.

“It was too confusing,” Scott Zaring said. “At the beginning, we didn’t know what to do.”

After a few games, Forest moved Smith to the stopper position in front of Wachenheim, who served as more of a sweeper in the 4-4-2 formation.

“It helps having two goalkeepers in the back at the same time,” Zaring said. “He’s got the same keeper vision on the field that I have and I think that’s a real plus. Kyle pretty much holds it down in the back and we haven’t really had many critical mistakes.”

Zaring and his sweeper work together to keep the defense in line.

“He can direct the defense just like I can (so) there’s a lot more talking between us,” Zaring said.

“One of the good things of having goalkeeping experience is I know what to do when Scott does something,” Wachenheim added. “When he comes out, I know to get back and cover for him. Sometimes, I’ve kind of saved his butt being on the line on corner kicks.”

On one play in JF’s 2-1 overtime win over Amherst in Friday night’s Seminole District championship, Wachenheim’s goalkeeping mentality set in, but he refrained from using his hands.

“I made a dive with my head, trying to cover the goal,” Wachenheim said, noting the shot went wide and high.

All four defenders have the freedom to make runs on goal and all four have scored, including Smith, who netted the game-winner from 35 yards out in the first OT against Amherst.

“The past two to three games, I’ve been playing more physically and aggressively,” Smith said. “If I go up, someone in the midfield drops back.”

Dempsey, in particular, a right-footed player starting at left defender, has taken the initiative to ignite the offense, working up the left wing to leading scorer Tim Bullock.

Dempsey ranks sixth on the team in scoring with five goals and nine assists.

This is not only the first season playing together on defense, but also the last for all but Dempsey, the only junior in the group. They have plenty to learn, but have improved tremendously since the start of the season.

“It took us a while to see that none of us are really that perfect,” Zaring said. “We had to have patience with each other and I think it’s really paid off.”

The Cavaliers open Region III tournament play tonight in the second game of a girls-boys doubleheader at JF.

They are five wins away from a potential meeting with Blacksburg in the Group AA state championship game at Radford on June 7, the same date as Forest’s graduation.  JF lost to the Bruins in the state semifinals in 2005 and the Region III semis last spring.

“I don’t think there’s anything better than going straight from our graduation exercises to going to play in the state final,” Wachenheim said. “That’s going to be amazing.”