Jackson Falls in Season Opening Soccer Match

Jackson High School soccer player Clayton Blakemore (20) battles Dexter High School player Ben Pritchard for the soccer ball during a home match on Wednesday.  Photo by Jeff Steers, JTV Sports.

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

Jackson area high school soccer players spent most of the summer wondering whether there would be a season.

The COVID-19 pandemic had everyone worried about playing any sports this fall.

First-year Coach Travis Baker used practices as “an outlet” – giving the players something to look forward to.

Jackson opened the season at home on Wednesday with a 5-3 loss to Dexter to begin Southeastern Conference action.

The Vikings won’t have time to catch their breath as Jackson will play four more games in the next six days.

Jackson fell behind early against Dexter, but played the Dreadnaughts even for the last 67 minutes of the game.

“I told our players we needed to play with a little more desire,” Baker said following the game. “It is tough to start the season against Dexter because they are one of the top teams in the league. “

Baker spend all August telling his players to prepare like the Vikings were going to have a season. It took a couple of quick goals by Dexter to get that the real season had begun.

Dexter player Hayden Newton scored 18 seconds into the contest. A.J. Gordon scored 12 minutes later giving Dexter a 2-0 lead.

But Jackson settled down and cut the lead to one four minutes later. Braydon Tanner used his speed to get past a defender and scored at the 23:55 mark of the first half.

But Newton scored another goal at 19:06 and Nick Williamson scored with less than nine minutes remaining in the first half for a 4-1 lead.

Jackson player Clayton Blakemore scored on a long shot with 1 minute remaining to cut the lead to 4-2.

Jackson came out hungry in the second half, but could not get any closer than two goals.

Dexter scored its final goal midway through the second half, but Jackson did not disappear.

Dylan Marshallsay scored the final goal for the Vikings, but Jackson could not get another shot attempt off in the second half.

Dexter outshot the Vikings 18-6 in the contest. Jackson goalie Canon Rose stopped 13 shots in goal for Jackson.

COVID restrictions included masks for all players during action, no handshakes, and parents limited to two tickets for each game.

The Vikings will host Pinckney on Thursday with the junior varsity contest starting at 5 p.m. and the varsity game at approximately 6:45.