Johnson’s Jaguars eye regional semis return
The Express-news recently interviewed Johnson boys soccer coach David Johnson about the Jaguars’ region quarterfinal game against Austin Westlake on Tuesday night.
Johnson’s Diego Robles has 34 goals and 12 assists, while Rodolfo “Rodo” Galvan has 11 goals
and 15 assists.
Q: How are you preparing to face Austin Westlake?
A:
“We just have to be ready. We have to execute a game plan and make sure we are all on the same page and know what’s expected of us. By this point, the training is more centered around the game plan. We should know our stuff already. We should be able to execute our stuff, and then we just need to go out and do it.”
Q: What makes Diego Robles special?
A:
“Diego is like a coach on the field. His soccer IQ is on par with a coach. He’s an intense competitor, and he loves to be playful. He’s got a real playful sense of humor, he’s the team’s funny guy. But when those lights come on, there’s nobody that is more of a gamer than Diego. He’s just ready to roll, and when he gets out there and he’s moving, his teammates will go wherever he goes.” Q: You told me previously that you think Rodo has a chance to take over next year when Diego is gone. Why do you believe he can make that jump next season?
A: “Rodo plays toplevel
club. Rodo works harder than anybody. He flies under the radar a little bit because Diego’s here, and Diego’s committed to a Division I (school) and scoring all these goals, but Rodo is dishing it to him. And he’s got his opportunities to score. He is a very talented kid. I think most of the people in the soccer community know that he’s a great player, but I think the public is going to learn in the coming year, how good he’s going to be because he’ll be the guy who carries things for us up top in the future.”
Q: How fun has it been to coach this group?
A:
“It’s fun to see it come together because this group that came in was undefeated as a JV team. And then it’s fun to see them come together and really rally around that rally point of how that went for us in the playoffs last year. There have been moments where I sit back and I watch some goals and some things that we’ve done such as to beat Reagan with 10 men and score in the second half with 10 men. I sit back and I just kind of smile like, ‘man, it’s pretty incredible what these kids are doing.’ I struggle because in the moment, we’re coaching, and in the moment it’s game by game and it’s practice by practice. I stress about what we can get better at and what we need to work on, but taking a minute to just smell the roses and just kind of enjoy what we’ve done so far has been good.”
Q: Are you making any final preparations before Tuesday’s playoff game against Austin Westlake?
A:
“No, we’re going to train today after school and we’re just going to clean up our set pieces and just try to make sure we have a game plan ready. One of the things we do, too, is we line up, put our scout team as the other team, talk about what we need to do and each player’s expectations and roll through our entire roster. Everybody’s going to get a chance to know exactly what they’re expected to do at every possession because you’ll never know who’s going to have to step up at any moment in these playoff games. Depth is key.”
Q: What would winning this game mean for this program?
A:
“I think the younger kids and the Johnson
community believing in us. We haven’t got out of the third round since 2017. So for them to see it happen, I think it would push them over the edge and really give us a chance in that regional tournament to show people that we can get out and we can be a state contender. We got a chance, and that’s all you can ask for. But I think it would help us internally more with the motivation that we can do it, seeing it happen. I think it would be vital for us.”
Q: How have you seen Diego prepare for the playoffs?
A:
“He is locked in. I’m talking about the next day after we lost to the LEE in the playoffs last season, we’re in the weight room talking about picking up equipment. He writes on the white board ‘Johnson will win state next year.’ And he has just been
locked in. I’m telling you, he’s not been on social media a whole lot. He’s just been ready to produce and ready to get us over the hump. That’s
something that he’s alluded to multiple times he wants us to get there, he wants us to get further than we did last year. And he’s been showing out.”