As Odulaja rolls, so do the Bears, 2-0

Talk about streaky. To say Head Coach Hank Deslaurier's Central Bears are rolling would be an understatement.
But CHS' recent success has a definite correlation with one player - junior center-mid Omar Odulaja.
Odulaja, Hernando County's leading scorer last winter, didn't score a point in the Bears' season-opening matches against winless Lecanto (ending in a dreary scoreless tie) and at home against 5A-7 leader Ocala-Forest (a 4-0 loss).
Since then Odulaja has scored at least one goal in four consecutive matches. Coincidentally, the Bears have responded with four consecutive wins.
In Tuesday's warm 65-degree evening, Odulaja rammed home two first-half tallies featuring his county-leading 9th and 10th goals of the season, as the Bears swept the seasonal series from the host Hernando Leopards at Tom Fisher Memorial Stadium, 2-0.

Odulaja rules

Though Hernando was out-shot, 11-6, the Leopards (1-7-0 overall, 0-4-0 county) had two formidable shots taken by sophomore Andres Pinzon.
But Central's first-year goalkeeper Anthony Kaspars punched away Pinzon's 15-yard laser to maintain an early scoreless deadlock.
At 26:00 minutes, junior forward Jeff Mancela fed Odulaja resulting in a gorgeous 6-yard tap-in past Leopard keeper Nick Noto (6 saves), 1-0 Bears.
Eight minutes later, Nariman Kobakhidze found Odulaja for his second goal of the night, 2-0.
That's the way it stayed for Central's 12th straight series win over archrival Hernando.
The Leopards haven't solved CHS since Jan. 12, 2004's 2-1 win at the Bears' Den. It was CHS' second win in two weeks over Hernando.
On Nov. 20, CHS needed a penalty kick in the final two minutes to stave off the upset-minded Leopards, 3-2.
With Tuesday's triumph, CHS climbed to 4-1-1 overall and 3-0-0 in county action.
"I thought we played the first 15 minutes pretty shaky," admitted the 16-year-old Odulaja. "After we scored that first goal, we seemed to get the momentum."
How pivotal was the rival match?
"We needed to win this," insisted Odulaja. "They're (Hernando) much improved from last year. There was no doubt who the best team was tonight. Unlike last time, to me, this was a one-sided match."
Kaspars admired Odulaja's continued offensive brilliance, but gave props to his defense.
"It was a nice win," indicated the 16-year-old Kaspars. "Our defense played really good tonight. Last time we played them we weren't mentally prepared. We thought it was going to be the same team we saw last year. But they made big saves and have a lot more talent than last year."
And tonight?
"I've got to give props to our sweeper, James Wert," said Kaspars. "He saved my butt plenty of times. The shutout was great. It tastes real good right now."

Coaches' corner

Deslaurier, who climbed to 9-0-0 lifetime against Hernando, has seen his club out-score the Leopards, 53-4.
"We've got a good team," described Coach Deslaurier. "And tonight we did a good of dictating the pace of the match. I think last time, we took them (Hernando) a little too light. These are only high school kids and they make high school decisions. We spent a lot of time getting mentally ready this time."
And Odulaja?
"He's a great player," Deslaurier said. "One thing he does extremely well is when he steps on the the pitch, he performs at a high level. He's been coached that way since he was a child. The biggest thing is he comes to play every night."
How big was the match?
"Just another day at the races," shrugged Deslaurier. "We have a huge match on Friday (at Ocala-Forest) and Springstead's coming up, too. But nothing really matters till January."
From the other sideline, first-year HHS skipper Andrew Suarez watched his team snap their county-record 44-match losing skein at Lecanto on Nov. 23 (4-2). But now, the Leopards have dropped back-to-back matches to Citrus (3-2) and Central (2-0).
"Give Central credit," insisted Coach Suarez. "They made adjustments to what we did the first time we met. They had much better 1-touch passing and they seemed to want it more."
Biggest positive?
"We're continuing to improve," said Suarez. "Nick (Noto), Josh (Fleischer), Shawn (Heiney) and Andres (Pinzon) really kept us in the match."
And Odulaja?
"He's got a lot of game," described Suarez. "But he has a lot of leadership skills too. He looks across the field on opportunities, always looking for his teammates. To me, that's what makes him a great player."

Central 2, Hernando 0
CEN 2 0 - 2
HER 0 0 - 0
Goals - CEN: Odulaja (2).
Assists - CEN: Mancela, Kobakhidze.
Shots on goal - CEN: 11; HER: 6.
Saves - CEN: Kaspars 4; HER: Noto 6.
Yellow Cards - CEN: Mancela (unsporting behavior); HER: Herbert (unsporting behavior).
Blue Cards - none.
Red Cards - none.
Records: Central (4-1-1 overall, 3-0-0 county), Hernando (1-7-0 overall, 0-4-0 county).