Ohio Blast FC striker raises his game for US Youth Regionals

Ohio Blast FC striker raises his game for US Youth Regionals
July 7, 2009
Through an entire regular season, U15 Blast FC (Ohio) striker Jeremy Fernandes never once recorded a hat trick.

Not that hat tricks grow on trees or anything, it’s just curious that once the US Youth Region II Championships arrived and his team was most in need of his performance Fernandes magically produced two.

Coincidence? We think not.

Boys elite club soccer player Jeremy Fernandes.Jeremy Fernandes (front)
“Whenever I play in a big game I always seem to do better than I have the whole season,” Fernandes said. “I think I love the hype when everything is on the line and you have to win it. I’ve always seemed to do well in championship games.”

The latest example came during his team’s 4-2 victory over Westside United FC, a win that qualified Blast FC for the National Championships on July 21-26 - the group’s first trip to the big time.

Fernandes produced his second three-goal effort of the tournament in that game, breaking the will of Westside United with a trio of beauties. His first two goals came in the first 15 minutes of the contest, one outside the box in the fourth minute and another where he ran at a defender and clipped the crossbar with his shot to beat the keeper.

Finally, he topped things off by attacking from the right wing and sending a shot inside the far post. His showing may have been the best in the entire tournament, which featured standouts like Brycen Howard, Cody Russell, Kyle Schickel, Tony Wilbar, Nico Cruz and Austin Ledbetter.

“I love to attack,” Fernandes said. “We have a lot of threats up front on this team and we move the ball forward.

That’s probably an understatement.

Fernandes is a talented specimen at 5-foot-10, bringing a physicality to match his skill. He plays in the perfect system to take full advantage of his abilities as coach Lesh Shkreli employs a front heavy offense that takes plenty of chances.

“We play very risky at times, and sometimes it bites us,” Shkreli said. “But the team really has a consistency in tough games that I like. Whether they’re up or down a goal they never give up, and that’s encouraging. Jeremy is very good when facing the ball and using his speed to run at people. He’s a very focused and level-headed kid.”   

One of the factors that has kept both Fernandes and his team focused is the presence of Grand Rapids, a team Blast FC considers the standard. It was Grand Rapids which claimed last season’s Region II title and Blast FC assumed it would need to go through the defending champs in order to be crowned this season. In a surprise semifinal, however, Westside United FC beat Grand Rapids in a shootout.

Still, there’s always nationals, and Blast FC wouldn’t be surprised to run into its familiar foe.

“They’ve always been the top team,” Fernandes said. “We had the same record as them during the season and tied them in our one meeting. We’re looking forward to maybe playing them again.”

Blast FC U15 Roster
Emmanuel Appiah, Alec Everts, Shane Facemyer, Jeremy Fernandes, Martin Kerscher, Austin King, Andrew Leithart, Jon Martin, Kevin McMahon, Louis Naiman, Jared Newman, Trevin Pitroff, Joshua Saunders, Peter Stoll, Connor Ward, Casey Weinland, David Witkoff.
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