Jeffries lights up scoreboard for Trojans

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:32PM

Downers North's A.J. Jeffries is considered by many to be one of the better sophomore soccer players in the area.

He showed why Thursday night, recording his first career hat trick to power the host Trojans to a shockingly lopsided 5-1 victory over crosstown rival Downers South.

Paul Hogan added a goal and two assists and Azmi Sharif also scored for North (13-2-2), which again showcased a high-powered offense that has scored 48 goals. It was the first time this fall the visiting Mustangs (9-2-3) have lost to an Illinois team and their first loss in the run of play. South's only other defeat was 1-0 on penalty kicks to Louisville Trinity.

"It was an amazing game," Jeffries said. "We put everything on the field. We had probably the best game we've had all season. It was probably the best game of my high school career so far."

With the scored tied at 1-1, Jeffries put the Trojans ahead to stay with the first of two spectacular individual efforts. He received a pass in the midfield from Jakob Mousel and sprinted up the right wing past three defenders before beating South keeper Sam Hadley with a 15-yard shot to the far post with 10:05 left in the first half.

Hogan, a senior, made it 3-1 at the 2:29 mark with his own great finish. Zack Parik heaved a throw-in 30 yards into the middle of the box to Hogan, who settled it with his back to the goal, turned a defender and scored from seven yards out.

Jeffries added two more goals in the second half. The first came with 31:02 left when he beat a defender into the box and poked the ball away from Hadley before scoring.

"Paul played a pretty good ball through," said Jeffries, who finished the scoring with a penalty kick with 23:22 remaining. "I just fought for it, pushed off one defender – might have been a foul – and then the keeper didn't have it so I got a poke in and kept fighting for it until it went in."

North midfielder Azmi Sharif, whose goal gave North a 1-0 lead just 4:15 into the contest, is used to seeing Jeffries play like that.

"He's such a strong player," Sharif said. "It's uncanny how he can keep the ball. He just dribbles through people like nothing."

Conor Kelch scored the only goal for South off an assist from Zach Baleski.

"North is a great finishing team," said Mustangs coach Jon Stapleton, whose team had given up more than two goals just once before. "They've got two guys that can definitely do it – Jeffries and Hogan. That's their strength.

"I don't know if that necessarily makes them the better team. They proved it tonight, there's no doubt about that. With those two guys up top, the potential is there for them to go a long way."

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