Perry earns first shutout victory of 2026 with 5-0 final against New Hampstead

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Perry’s Blye Chu (black) comes up behind New Hampstead’s Mario Geroud (10) to challenge for possession. (Clay Brown/HHJ)

PERRY — Perry’s (5-6, 4-2 Region 1-4A) start to the 2026 season wasn’t easy but they seem to have found their groove as of late, now 4-1 in their last five after a 5-0 victory over New Hampstead (5-6, 2-4 Region) on Wednesday.

Junior J.D. Arnette had a big night in the midfield, moving up to attack often; he rocketed two goals into the net and assisted on the Panthers’ last one with five minutes left.

Arnette and most of his teammates had a rough first half in terms of putting their shots on goal. Two of his, including a penalty kick, sailed clean over the crossbar.

“Big thing I said at halftime, really the only negative I could say, was us not finishing some of those balls. But they corrected that in the second half and the score showed that,” Head coach Nathan Dooley said.

But early in the second half Arnette finished a counter attack by shooting a laser through the left side of the net from about 30 yards out to make it a 2-0 game. He bolted past the line to chase a through ball and send another shot screaming through the left side with 15 minutes left, all but sealing the Panthers’ victory.

At 6-foot-2 Arnette towers over a lot of players on the pitch, which helps him be so versatile for Dooley.

“He is a player that other teams have to watch out for because of his physicality, his size, his ability as well,” Dooley said. “He’s kind of our playmaker that we play through, and he can do a little bit of everything. He can help us in possession, he can help us with the scoring and assisting, so he’s just that all-around player.”

The team as a whole performed well to Dooley’s standards, particularly in the second half. They were aggressive challenging the ball and maintaining possession; New Hampstead rarely got sustained opportunities on the attack and instead were forced to play on their heels for much of the game.

They also put plenty of through balls out for their strikers and forwards. Those saw more shots on goal and scores in the last 40 minutes.

“What I told the boys before the game is we wanted to keep our shape, which they did well, and try to work the ball quickly with quick passes, which they did well,” Dooley said. “Tactically we wanted to hold possession because we had a feeling they may sit back deep defensively, and so we had to create those passing lanes for the attack and the through balls and stuff like that.”

The defense deserved flowers from Dooley, too. The back line held firm and routinely redirected the Phoenix’ attempted clears back to the midfield and up into the attack. There’s been a lot of experimentation in regards to lineups from Dooley, but he might’ve found something to stick with after the shutout.

“This is game 11 or 12 and I think we’ve had 11 or 12 different starting lineups. But the defensive lineup we had tonight was really strong with having our captain Noah Wendler back there,” Dooley said. “He’s kind of the anchor of the defense, and then Andrew Hart was the other center back. He’s kind of moved into that role the last couple of games and [with] them working together, we’re starting to see some of the positives of that pairing.”