By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

Whether it was that there was no school, or whether it was playing on a middle school field, or just simply the weather, something threw off Wootton at the start of its game against Walter Johnson at Tilden Middle School Monday afternoon.

The Patriots, for the first time that some players could remember, trailed against a Montgomery County opponent.

But despite all that, the Patriots rebounded to beat a second-straight rival, this time 12-8 and once again did it in convincing fashion.

“We were all thrown off a little bit, but we got back on track,” said senior midfielder Mike Cresham, who scored four goals.

Walter Johnson (2-2) score the game’s first goal after Wootton (4-0) turned the ball over four of its first five possessions. All were unforced turnovers.

Wootton junior attackman Jeff Zifrony, who led all scorers with five goals, tied the game at 1 about five minutes after the Wildcats drew first blood.

But Walter Johnson’s Daniel Cohen, who saw double-teams much of the afternoon after notching 49 goals and 42 assists as a junior last season, scored one of his two goals to once again give the Wildcats a lead.

“They came out ready to play; we didn’t,” said senior defenseman Mark Jutkowitz, who had two assists. “But we just gathered ourselves, kept our composure and finished the game. .. It keeps us in check. We’ve always got to keep our heads.”

Wootton responded by scoring the next four goals, capped by a smooth goal by Tim Lenardo on a Jutkowitz assist, to take a 5-2 lead and never trailed from then on.

Walter Johnson trimmed the lead to one goal before Cresham and Zifrony strung together the final two goals of the first half to give the Patriots a 7-4 halftime lead. Zifrony scored again to open the second half followed by a goal by Jonathan Heiber to open up the game.

Wootton was coming off a rout of Churchill and now enters yet another tough game against Bethesda-Chevy Chase on Thursday in a rematch of last year’s 4A West region finals.

“I love it, I can’t get enough of it,” Jutkowitz said. “That’s what we live for, big games.”

Walter Johnson, who was led in scoring by a hat trick from Andrew Goldstein, will next face a tough Magruder team.

“We’re young right now,” Walter Johnson Coach Jon Mayer said. “We’re still learning on the fly I think.”