BY MARK MORING, Eastern Shore Post —
Since the moment they lost in the semifinals of last year’s state championships, Northampton’s boys soccer team has been singularly focused on one goal all season: winning it all, as they did two years ago.
As a reminder to his players to keep their eyes on that prize, Jackets coach Chase Baxa wore his 2023 state title T-shirt to Tuesday’s Class 1A regional semifinal against visiting Mathews.
Junior striker Luke Jones, who was a freshman on that 2023 squad, certainly got the message, scoring four goals to lead Northampton, the top-ranked Class 1 team in the state, to a lopsided 8-0 win over the Blue Devils.
The Jackets (12-2-1) won their eighth consecutive game to advance to Thursday’s regional semifinal against second-ranked West Point (13-1), which beat Rappahannock 5-1 in Tuesday’s other semifinal. Thursday’s regional final ended after the Post’s deadline this week.
Against Mathews (11-3-1), Northampton took a 1-0 lead on Sebastian Mayorga’s goal about 15 minutes into the game and never looked back. They added three more goals before halftime — two by Jones and another by Mayorga — for a 4-0 lead at the break.
In the second half, Jones scored two more goals, and Martin Montalvo and Manny Montalvo added one each. The game was called with about 18 minutes left due to the mercy rule. Mayorga also had three assists in the game, while Fernando Palacio and Manuel Montalvo added an assist each. Alejandro Suarez got the shutout in goal.
Baxa said his team “played great” against Mathews. “The intensity we started with was fantastic. And then being up 4-0 at the half, that’s usually when we sort of let off the gas. But today, the boys just didn’t. They went all out, and you can’t ask for anything better.”
Northampton hasn’t given up a goal since a 4-1 victory over Nandua on April 28. Over the last eight games, starting with that Nandua win, the Jackets have outscored opponents a whopping 40-1, including 26-0 in their last three wins.
Jones says the team is peaking at the right time as it moves one step closer to the state tournament, which begins next week.
“I think we played a brilliant game today,” he said. “We came out wanting to set the tone that we’re the best team in the region and in the state, and we’re confident with that. We train like that, and we show it out here on the field. It was a great performance out here from everybody, an amazing team effort.”
