Things have been going pretty well lately for the Jefferson City Jays.
The Jays brought a seven-match winning streak into Tuesday night's contest against the Sedalia Smith-Cotton Tigers, outscoring their opponents 30-2 in the stretch.
It wasn't as easy Tuesday night.
"I was glad to have a game like this," Jays coach Scott Blake said after Jefferson City's 2-0 victory against Smith-Cotton at Eddie Horn Field. "It's been a while since we've been pushed like this.
"For us to have a fight like this was good for us."
The Jays had the better of play early, banging a pair of shots off the post.
"There were moments we had a chance to break this one open and it just didn't happen," Blake said.
But the game remained scoreless until there were less than two minutes remaining in the half when Breck McGrail scored off an assist by Cale Heiberger.
"That was huge," Blake said. "It was a great effort from Breck."
It was good to have the lead, Blake said. It also provided a good learning opportunity.
"To be up by just one instead of two or three or four like we have been lately, it can bring us down to where we need to be looking ahead at the rest of our schedule," he said. "This brought us some trials that will help us down the road."
The Jays got an insurance goal with 13:32 remaining when Bassil Ahmed found his way through four Smith-Cotton defenders to make it 2-0.
"That got us the distance we needed to seal it up," Blake said.
Toby Hughes was in goal for Jefferson City's fifth consecutive shutout and seventh of the season.
"I'd rather have this fight here at home like we did tonight instead of sometime in the future," Blake said. "To go on the road and we get pushed, who knows how we respond."
Smith-Cotton is now 7-3-1.
Jefferson City (10-2) will start play Thursday in the three-day Go 4 the Goal Fall Classic in Burlington, Iowa.
"I'd like to think we're better than 0-3, a good tournament for us would be 2-1 or a little better," Blake said. "I'm more confident in this team going into this tournament than I've been in previous years because we have athletes that can compete."
Jefferson City opens against Glenwood High School from Chatham, Ill., at 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
After the Classic, the Jays will travel to Columbia to face the Rock Bridge Bruins next Tuesday in a contest that will go a long way in deciding in the No. 1 seed in the Class 4 District 9 Tournament next month.
In Tuesday's JV game, Jefferson City topped Smith-Cotton 5-1. Deandreis White had two goals, while Silas Porter, Ryan Gerke and Aarush Deshpande had one each. Chase Schnieders had two assists for the Jays (9-0-1). Ethan DuBois, Ryan Spraggs and Cole Heller had one each.