Tigers stop Jackson

Zach Zaruba, who has scored 23 goals in Central's 21 games, admitted his fanciest one so far this season came against rival Jackson on Thursday night.

Zaruba noticed that the Indians' defender who was covering him over committed, so he touched the ball slightly past the defender's right side while he moved around the defender's left side. He met back up with the ball past the defense and rifled a shot past Jackson keeper Justin Darnell from approximately 16 yards out.

"I saw him dive in so I just took a slight touch around him, and I knew I had the far post open so I shot it and luckily it went upper 90," Zaruba said.

Zaruba was one of three Tigers to score and helped Central to a 3-1 win against Jackson in a SEMO Conference showdown at Central High School.

Central improved to 14-7. Jackson dropped to 10-11.

"What a finish," Central coach Dan Martin said about Zaruba's goal. "The keeper had no chance on that. ... It's just one of those things smart players can read. He can read when a defender has the momentum carrying him one way. He reads it, plays the ball very smart. He's going the other way and meets up with the ball. That's a good player."

Zaruba's score came with a little more than 18 minutes remaining in the contest to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

CHUCK WU ~ cwu@semissourian.com Central's midfielder Lucian Johnson going up in the air to take control of the ball with Jackson's Ryan Schlick.

Josh Compas kicked in Central's first goal off a rebound after teammate Garrett Duncan fired a shot that Darnell couldn't corral in the first half.

It was Compas's sixth goal this season.

"Compas was doing his job right there to put it away," Martin said. "Funny story about Josh Compas is that he started out in tryouts last year as a keeper, and this year coming in as a backup keeper, but after the first two games we moved him up top. I liked what I saw, and he's been doing great. He hasn't scored a lot of goals. His job is to get the ball, hold and knock the ball around. And he's doing phenominal."

Jackson's Ryan Schlick scored with a little more than 13 minutes remaining to cut the deficit to 2-1.

But Central put the game away when Lucian Johnson scored on a penalty shot in the final two minutes.

Tigers keeper Carlos Salas recorded nine saves.

Jackson coach Zack Walton was pleased with his offensive attack. The Indians did have their chances, including a breakaway by Law Duncan, who shot it over the net.

"We had some good chances to score," Walton said. "We just missed a few good opportunities in there."

Walton said he was impressed with Zaruba's goal.

"The Zaruba kid had a great shot," Walton said. "Nothing you can do about that. He's a good player, you know. Hats off to him. He's a good player when he has the ball and when he doesn't have the ball. He showed a little bit tonight on that shot."