Hillsboro season closes with loss to Circleville
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
It wasn’t the ending the Hillsboro Indians wanted Thursday night, but after struggling in the first half, the Indians’ second-half play was not enough to hold back the visiting Circleville Tigers in the Division II SE District Sectional Finals, falling by a 2-1 score.
The Indians (5-10-2) trailed by a 1-0 score at halftime as the visiting Tigers — a No. 5 seed — gained the one-goal lead off a goal from Connor Jones with 3:14 left in first half.
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Hillsboro played the game without three starters due to injury.
“We played a very poor first half, unfortunately, and put us in the hole, going in 1-0 at the half,” HHS head coach John Weber said. “Passes, touches – everything was just off. It’s been a week since the last game, so it showed. A week off from our last game of being able to play, we were definitely rusty. We could have improved. The second half, though, they did come out and played a lot better. I mean a lot better.
“Actually, we pretty much flipped it. We were primarily on their offensive third for the majority of that half. We started actually creating opportunities and shots and limiting shots on our goal other than an unfortunate mistake, just one of those rare mistakes there with five minutes left that doesn’t happen one out of 100 times.”
Following a halftime huddle, the Indians were able to play much better in the second half, as Hillsboro tied the score at 1-1 with a goal from Quinn Conlon with 33:24 left in regulation.
Circleville took a 2-1 lead off penalty kick by Dylan Burns with 5:36 left in match, and the penalty came from a Hillsboro foul.
Even trailing by a goal, the Indians had chances to tie the score late in the tournament match, but the defense of the Tigers was able to fend off the Indians’ offensive pressure.
“Overall, not exactly what we wanted in our season projecting-wise, but when it’s all said and done, I really appreciate all the work. We had 10 seniors with a majority of those returning for their senior year from playing for varsity, and the younger guys did step up and play well with players being out,” Weber said.
The victory for Circleville moves them to 5-12 overall on the season.
Hillsboro’s loss also marked the end of Coach Weber’s coaching career, as he said he’s chosen not to return to coach the team next season. Weber has coached in the Indians’ soccer program for 12 seasons, including the past nine years as the head coach.
“This will be my last game. I’m not going to coach next year. I’d rather watch,” Weber said. “For my last year, which will be my 12th year – ninth year varsity – I do want to say that I really appreciate all the players I’ve had the opportunity to coach and the opportunity the school gave me to coach. It’s been a fun ride, very bumpy – like tonight, not the result that we wanted – but I am at least happy that I did have the opportunity to coach this team this year, especially those ten seniors.”
Weber also spoke about the 2018 season as a whole. This season, the Indians defeated the Eastern Brown Warriors (4-2), Washington Blue Lions (8-1 and 6-1), McClain (4-3) and the Fayetteville Rockets (4-0).
“We had some outstanding moments (in 2018), things that you don’t see – a half-field goal from kickoff by Quinn. We had off-the-wall, crazy headers that I don’t know how kids got to them but they did,” Weber said. “We tied Lynchburg – we haven’t beaten or tied Lynchburg in four years, so that was an exciting moment for us. Overall, it was a bumpy season but a fun season.”
The Indians (5-10-2) trailed by a 1-0 score at halftime as the visiting Tigers — a No. 5 seed — gained the one-goal lead off a goal from Connor Jones with 3:14 left in first half.
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Hillsboro played the game without three starters due to injury.
“We played a very poor first half, unfortunately, and put us in the hole, going in 1-0 at the half,” HHS head coach John Weber said. “Passes, touches – everything was just off. It’s been a week since the last game, so it showed. A week off from our last game of being able to play, we were definitely rusty. We could have improved. The second half, though, they did come out and played a lot better. I mean a lot better.
“Actually, we pretty much flipped it. We were primarily on their offensive third for the majority of that half. We started actually creating opportunities and shots and limiting shots on our goal other than an unfortunate mistake, just one of those rare mistakes there with five minutes left that doesn’t happen one out of 100 times.”
Following a halftime huddle, the Indians were able to play much better in the second half, as Hillsboro tied the score at 1-1 with a goal from Quinn Conlon with 33:24 left in regulation.
Circleville took a 2-1 lead off penalty kick by Dylan Burns with 5:36 left in match, and the penalty came from a Hillsboro foul.
Even trailing by a goal, the Indians had chances to tie the score late in the tournament match, but the defense of the Tigers was able to fend off the Indians’ offensive pressure.
“Overall, not exactly what we wanted in our season projecting-wise, but when it’s all said and done, I really appreciate all the work. We had 10 seniors with a majority of those returning for their senior year from playing for varsity, and the younger guys did step up and play well with players being out,” Weber said.
The victory for Circleville moves them to 5-12 overall on the season.
Hillsboro’s loss also marked the end of Coach Weber’s coaching career, as he said he’s chosen not to return to coach the team next season. Weber has coached in the Indians’ soccer program for 12 seasons, including the past nine years as the head coach.
“This will be my last game. I’m not going to coach next year. I’d rather watch,” Weber said. “For my last year, which will be my 12th year – ninth year varsity – I do want to say that I really appreciate all the players I’ve had the opportunity to coach and the opportunity the school gave me to coach. It’s been a fun ride, very bumpy – like tonight, not the result that we wanted – but I am at least happy that I did have the opportunity to coach this team this year, especially those ten seniors.”
Weber also spoke about the 2018 season as a whole. This season, the Indians defeated the Eastern Brown Warriors (4-2), Washington Blue Lions (8-1 and 6-1), McClain (4-3) and the Fayetteville Rockets (4-0).
“We had some outstanding moments (in 2018), things that you don’t see – a half-field goal from kickoff by Quinn. We had off-the-wall, crazy headers that I don’t know how kids got to them but they did,” Weber said. “We tied Lynchburg – we haven’t beaten or tied Lynchburg in four years, so that was an exciting moment for us. Overall, it was a bumpy season but a fun season.”