McClain Tigers shut out Hillsboro Indians for FAC win
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The win wasn’t as crisp and efficient as McClain head coach Nick McNeal wanted it, but a win is a win, and that is what the Tigers did on the road Tuesday night in Frontier Athletic Conference action.
Behind two goals from Braeden Bergstrom, the McClain Tigers defeated Highland County counterpart Hillsboro at HHS by a 2-0 score, scoring one goal in each half.
Bergstrom’s first goal was scored with 11:51 left in the opening half of play, sending the ball to the side of the net (with the assist from Bryson Badgley) for the 1-0 lead, which stood until halftime.
MHS (7-1-1) mostly controlled the pace of the first half — though the Indians did have their chances to score goals as well — and did the same in the final 40 minutes. They were only able to get one more goal past the Indians, with Bergstrom scoring the goal on a penalty kick less than eight minutes into the second half for the final 2-0 lead.
“We didn’t play like the Tigers soccer team that beat Chillicothe,” McNeal said. “We’ve had a bad habit of playing down and not up like should. The kids came in looking at Hillsboro’s record, and I tried to tell them, Hillsboro’s record doesn’t say how good they are because Hillsboro plays a very strong schedule. That rang true, and they possessed the ball great, they played great, and they did a great job.
“We just weren’t as solid as we usually are. We had a lot of opportunities to finish on goal, and we gave them some opportunities because we whiffed in the back, but overall we got the win. That is a county rivalry game, and you never know what can happen in those games. That is the thing with Hillsboro is there have been years where they have gotten us and years where we’ve gotten them, and it is always a good game.”
Hillsboro did have a couple chances to break up the shutout, but MHS keeper Noah Reeves had other plans with a big-time diving save with 4:04 on the clock. Later, the shutout also stayed on the scoreboard with timely stops by the Tigers’ defense, as time eventually ran out on the scoreboard.
McNeal talked about how the defense of the Tigers stood out the most in the FAC win.
“Noah had some good saves, and defensively we are doing great in the FAC in the four games we’ve had, allowing only two goals,” he said. “Jackson had one off a PK, and Chillicothe had one off a corner kick into a header. So right now, I would say we are doing good up top and doing good in the back. We are holding solid and doing enough.
“We are now 7-1-1 overall, and the loss and tie is to Alexander, and I don’t think we’d be where we are at now in the league if we hadn’t played Alexander. That game made us a better team and the reason we have been able to beat Jackson, Chillicothe, Hillsboro and Miami Trace in the league. Otherwise, we’d be playing the same ol’ soccer we played in the first couple games, and that wouldn’t have gotten the job done. That is really helping us in the FAC right now.”
Hillsboro head coach Adam Schelling spoke about the game and the overall play of his team.
“We started out very aggressive. We won balls out of the air, we passed well, we had them on their heels for a while and had some good shots in the first half, but after (McClain) scored their first goal, that put us back a little bit,” Schelling said. “We came back out in the second half and were still aggressive, but then that PK came and that really knocked us down a little bit.
“We had two goals to come back from, and that is a tall order against a good Greenfield team. I was OK coming back from one goal, but coming back down two goals is tough. I still liked the way we played, and we are building on as a team better. From here, I think we can build on. McClain is a good team, and we saw why they haven’t lost in the league. They are very quick, they play the ball fast, find their guys wide and get back to the middle for a finish.”
There were players for the Indians that stood out even with the Indians not scoring goals, as Schelling spoke about the defense of Hillsboro.
“Our defense played very well,” Schelling said. “We switched it up a little bit and it worked to our advantage. Landon Weber played very good on defense, and Dylan Rigsby came back off a concussion and is playing better. Dylan Schurman shut down the middle, and Charlie Schneider was filling in on the outside of the defense and played very well.
“Our keeper is Will Hart, and he’s very good. We’re happy to have him for two more years, and he saves everything he can. He’s very aggressive and has done a nice job for us.”
Next for Hillsboro is a FAC match on Thursday, Sept. 24 vs. Chillicothe. The Tigers next face Jackson on Tuesday, Sept. 29 in another FAC match.
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Behind two goals from Braeden Bergstrom, the McClain Tigers defeated Highland County counterpart Hillsboro at HHS by a 2-0 score, scoring one goal in each half.
Bergstrom’s first goal was scored with 11:51 left in the opening half of play, sending the ball to the side of the net (with the assist from Bryson Badgley) for the 1-0 lead, which stood until halftime.
MHS (7-1-1) mostly controlled the pace of the first half — though the Indians did have their chances to score goals as well — and did the same in the final 40 minutes. They were only able to get one more goal past the Indians, with Bergstrom scoring the goal on a penalty kick less than eight minutes into the second half for the final 2-0 lead.
“We didn’t play like the Tigers soccer team that beat Chillicothe,” McNeal said. “We’ve had a bad habit of playing down and not up like should. The kids came in looking at Hillsboro’s record, and I tried to tell them, Hillsboro’s record doesn’t say how good they are because Hillsboro plays a very strong schedule. That rang true, and they possessed the ball great, they played great, and they did a great job.
“We just weren’t as solid as we usually are. We had a lot of opportunities to finish on goal, and we gave them some opportunities because we whiffed in the back, but overall we got the win. That is a county rivalry game, and you never know what can happen in those games. That is the thing with Hillsboro is there have been years where they have gotten us and years where we’ve gotten them, and it is always a good game.”
Hillsboro did have a couple chances to break up the shutout, but MHS keeper Noah Reeves had other plans with a big-time diving save with 4:04 on the clock. Later, the shutout also stayed on the scoreboard with timely stops by the Tigers’ defense, as time eventually ran out on the scoreboard.
McNeal talked about how the defense of the Tigers stood out the most in the FAC win.
“Noah had some good saves, and defensively we are doing great in the FAC in the four games we’ve had, allowing only two goals,” he said. “Jackson had one off a PK, and Chillicothe had one off a corner kick into a header. So right now, I would say we are doing good up top and doing good in the back. We are holding solid and doing enough.
“We are now 7-1-1 overall, and the loss and tie is to Alexander, and I don’t think we’d be where we are at now in the league if we hadn’t played Alexander. That game made us a better team and the reason we have been able to beat Jackson, Chillicothe, Hillsboro and Miami Trace in the league. Otherwise, we’d be playing the same ol’ soccer we played in the first couple games, and that wouldn’t have gotten the job done. That is really helping us in the FAC right now.”
Hillsboro head coach Adam Schelling spoke about the game and the overall play of his team.
“We started out very aggressive. We won balls out of the air, we passed well, we had them on their heels for a while and had some good shots in the first half, but after (McClain) scored their first goal, that put us back a little bit,” Schelling said. “We came back out in the second half and were still aggressive, but then that PK came and that really knocked us down a little bit.
“We had two goals to come back from, and that is a tall order against a good Greenfield team. I was OK coming back from one goal, but coming back down two goals is tough. I still liked the way we played, and we are building on as a team better. From here, I think we can build on. McClain is a good team, and we saw why they haven’t lost in the league. They are very quick, they play the ball fast, find their guys wide and get back to the middle for a finish.”
There were players for the Indians that stood out even with the Indians not scoring goals, as Schelling spoke about the defense of Hillsboro.
“Our defense played very well,” Schelling said. “We switched it up a little bit and it worked to our advantage. Landon Weber played very good on defense, and Dylan Rigsby came back off a concussion and is playing better. Dylan Schurman shut down the middle, and Charlie Schneider was filling in on the outside of the defense and played very well.
“Our keeper is Will Hart, and he’s very good. We’re happy to have him for two more years, and he saves everything he can. He’s very aggressive and has done a nice job for us.”
Next for Hillsboro is a FAC match on Thursday, Sept. 24 vs. Chillicothe. The Tigers next face Jackson on Tuesday, Sept. 29 in another FAC match.
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