Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs move forward to district semifinals
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — For the second time in seven days, the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs won against their Highland County counterpart Fairfield, but this time the win made them sectional champions, plus sent LC to the district round of the Division III Tournament for the eighth consecutive year.
On Wednesday, the Mustangs defeated the Lions, 6-0, with three goals in each half from four players. Last week when the Mustangs clinched the perfect Southern Hills Athletic Conference season they defeated Fairfield, 3-0, with both matches being played at LCHS.
The Lions end their season at 4-10-1 overall, winning a sectional semifinal match last Saturday over Southeastern by a 2-1 score, making them 1-1 in the postseason.
“Like I told the guys following the game, ‘You control the ball, you control the game,’” FHS head coach Jacob Alexander said. “The percentage of how much we control the ball wouldn’t look good in our favor, so when (Lynchburg-Clay) controls the ball on their offensive side of the field, it wears on our defense, and by the end of the game it is just a lot.
“In the end you are hoping you could have gotten some counters, but it didn’t work out. Lynchburg-Clay is a good team, and we wish them the best of luck.”
Lynchburg-Clay (12-3-1) wasted little time in this second meeting of the season, scoring a goal within the first six minutes of play as Connor Tyree scored the first of his two goals with around 34 minutes left in the first half.
Following a barrage of kicks by the Mustangs — as they held possession of the ball for nearly the entire match — the second goal was scored with 11:37 left in the first half clock, and the score went to 2-0 off a kick by Trey Pitzer from around 10 to 15 yards out.
Lynchburg-Clay added to their lead in the first half with Kaden Harper pushing the advantage to three goals with 9:42 left in the match, as the defense was a little out of position and the ball went into the back of the net.
The 3-0 lead held to halftime, and less than 10 minutes into the second half, the Mustangs added to their lead once again, this time with a goal by Harper — his second of the match — with 31:47 on the clock.
“Player movement, we have gotten very stagnant over the last quarter of the season. We have been very stationary and watching the ball, and that slows us down. As long as we play under the mindset we had tonight where the ball moves faster than any individual, we’ll control possession of the game,” LCHS head coach Jason West said.
The Mustangs continued to keep the pace of the match by limiting the time the Lions held possession of the ball, and in that time, the Mustangs scored a fifth goal for a 5-0 lead. The goal was scored by Ian Waits with 17:19 on the clock, as he was in front of the goal, increasing the lead.
The sixth and final goal of the match was scored with 15:46 on the scoreboard, as Tyree’s second goal went past the defense of the visiting Lions.
Lynchburg-Clay’s win improves their overall record to 12-3-1 overall.
“We are very happy winning the sectional, and it is even better because 2020 stinks, and I’m pretty sure most people will agree with that,” West said. “Having another home game for district semifinals is a win for us, and the sectional finals victory means a lot to us moving forward.”
Coach West also praised the defense of the Mustangs as they had their sixth shutout of the season.
“Defensively, we have Dawson (Osborn), Nathan (Brown) and Andrew (Cumberland) across the net, and we had Kyle (Bennington) at goal in the second half and Ian (Waits) in the first half. Those guys do a lot for us,” West said. “One of the things we talked about at halftime is in games like this if you get rocking on your heels, defensively it just takes one little miscue, and if everyone is lax, that little miscue can lead to a big goal.
“The biggest part for us as a team and the style of play is to just maintain possession and not allow opportunities to the other team. We won’t put up a lot of goals, but we will make you chase the ball around, and we will frustrate you because we won’t allow you to have normal opportunities on offense.”
Seniors in their final game for the Lions were Cody Ayers and Hunter McIntosh.
“We are building here, and it is a process. You don’t get good overnight,” Alexander said. “I know a lot of these kids put in a lot of work, like Reese Teeters, Koben Zink, Brayden Zimmerman and Hunter Burns, and those are just my juniors coming back next year who literally are up the middle of the field if you look at it. So you build from that.
“We are going to miss Cody Ayers and Hunter McIntosh, whether it is on-field or off-field, because they brought a lot to this team with their personality and their skill. Cody was our starting center back all year. It was a tough position for him because he’s naturally not a center back, but he did very well for the team.
“From day one to now we have really improved,” Alexander continued. “Tonight’s score … we made a lot of mistakes, and I would like to have this on a different day. We showed last week we can play against them, but offensively we need to score one before we can really say much.”
Next for the Mustangs is a district semifinal match on Saturday, Oct. 24 against South Webster (time TBA) at LCHS.
The SW Jeeps and Mustangs have a bit of tournament history as they have eliminated Lynchburg-Clay from the postseason the past four seasons and in six of the past seven postseasons as well.
During the regular season this year, it was Lynchburg-Clay winning by a 2-1 score at South Webster on Saturday, Oct. 3. To reach the district semifinals, the Jeeps defeated West Union (9-1) on Oct. 17 and Rock Hill (Ironton) by a 2-1 score Wednesday.
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On Wednesday, the Mustangs defeated the Lions, 6-0, with three goals in each half from four players. Last week when the Mustangs clinched the perfect Southern Hills Athletic Conference season they defeated Fairfield, 3-0, with both matches being played at LCHS.
The Lions end their season at 4-10-1 overall, winning a sectional semifinal match last Saturday over Southeastern by a 2-1 score, making them 1-1 in the postseason.
“Like I told the guys following the game, ‘You control the ball, you control the game,’” FHS head coach Jacob Alexander said. “The percentage of how much we control the ball wouldn’t look good in our favor, so when (Lynchburg-Clay) controls the ball on their offensive side of the field, it wears on our defense, and by the end of the game it is just a lot.
“In the end you are hoping you could have gotten some counters, but it didn’t work out. Lynchburg-Clay is a good team, and we wish them the best of luck.”
Lynchburg-Clay (12-3-1) wasted little time in this second meeting of the season, scoring a goal within the first six minutes of play as Connor Tyree scored the first of his two goals with around 34 minutes left in the first half.
Following a barrage of kicks by the Mustangs — as they held possession of the ball for nearly the entire match — the second goal was scored with 11:37 left in the first half clock, and the score went to 2-0 off a kick by Trey Pitzer from around 10 to 15 yards out.
Lynchburg-Clay added to their lead in the first half with Kaden Harper pushing the advantage to three goals with 9:42 left in the match, as the defense was a little out of position and the ball went into the back of the net.
The 3-0 lead held to halftime, and less than 10 minutes into the second half, the Mustangs added to their lead once again, this time with a goal by Harper — his second of the match — with 31:47 on the clock.
“Player movement, we have gotten very stagnant over the last quarter of the season. We have been very stationary and watching the ball, and that slows us down. As long as we play under the mindset we had tonight where the ball moves faster than any individual, we’ll control possession of the game,” LCHS head coach Jason West said.
The Mustangs continued to keep the pace of the match by limiting the time the Lions held possession of the ball, and in that time, the Mustangs scored a fifth goal for a 5-0 lead. The goal was scored by Ian Waits with 17:19 on the clock, as he was in front of the goal, increasing the lead.
The sixth and final goal of the match was scored with 15:46 on the scoreboard, as Tyree’s second goal went past the defense of the visiting Lions.
Lynchburg-Clay’s win improves their overall record to 12-3-1 overall.
“We are very happy winning the sectional, and it is even better because 2020 stinks, and I’m pretty sure most people will agree with that,” West said. “Having another home game for district semifinals is a win for us, and the sectional finals victory means a lot to us moving forward.”
Coach West also praised the defense of the Mustangs as they had their sixth shutout of the season.
“Defensively, we have Dawson (Osborn), Nathan (Brown) and Andrew (Cumberland) across the net, and we had Kyle (Bennington) at goal in the second half and Ian (Waits) in the first half. Those guys do a lot for us,” West said. “One of the things we talked about at halftime is in games like this if you get rocking on your heels, defensively it just takes one little miscue, and if everyone is lax, that little miscue can lead to a big goal.
“The biggest part for us as a team and the style of play is to just maintain possession and not allow opportunities to the other team. We won’t put up a lot of goals, but we will make you chase the ball around, and we will frustrate you because we won’t allow you to have normal opportunities on offense.”
Seniors in their final game for the Lions were Cody Ayers and Hunter McIntosh.
“We are building here, and it is a process. You don’t get good overnight,” Alexander said. “I know a lot of these kids put in a lot of work, like Reese Teeters, Koben Zink, Brayden Zimmerman and Hunter Burns, and those are just my juniors coming back next year who literally are up the middle of the field if you look at it. So you build from that.
“We are going to miss Cody Ayers and Hunter McIntosh, whether it is on-field or off-field, because they brought a lot to this team with their personality and their skill. Cody was our starting center back all year. It was a tough position for him because he’s naturally not a center back, but he did very well for the team.
“From day one to now we have really improved,” Alexander continued. “Tonight’s score … we made a lot of mistakes, and I would like to have this on a different day. We showed last week we can play against them, but offensively we need to score one before we can really say much.”
Next for the Mustangs is a district semifinal match on Saturday, Oct. 24 against South Webster (time TBA) at LCHS.
The SW Jeeps and Mustangs have a bit of tournament history as they have eliminated Lynchburg-Clay from the postseason the past four seasons and in six of the past seven postseasons as well.
During the regular season this year, it was Lynchburg-Clay winning by a 2-1 score at South Webster on Saturday, Oct. 3. To reach the district semifinals, the Jeeps defeated West Union (9-1) on Oct. 17 and Rock Hill (Ironton) by a 2-1 score Wednesday.
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