Mustangs continue shutout streak; advance in district tournament
The offense and defense of the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs played at a top level on Thursday at Lynchburg-Clay High School in their Division V SE District Quarterfinal game against the No. 19 seeded Ripley Blue Jays, winning by an 8-0 score.
The eight-goal win by the Mustangs saw LCHS have six players score one goal each, while there were also two own goals that occurred in the match as well.
Lynchburg-Clay, the No. 3 seed, had goals from senior Noah Bitzer, junior Elam Faust, sophomore Mason Fisher, freshman Harley Lewis, sophomore Alexander VanFleet and senior Braedon West.
West leads the Mustangs in goals scored this season with 15.
VanFleet also had an assist in the win, and keeper Isaac Eyre finished with one save, gloving the senior keeper 56 saves in 2024.
At goal for Ripley was Izayah Goins with seven saves.
The win over Ripley was the Mustangs’ fourth consecutive shutout and their 11th shutout of the season.
Earlier during the regular season, LCHS defeated Ripley 11-0 on Sept. 26 at RHS.
Lynchburg-Clay’s win improves them to 13-3-2 overall this season, and during their SHAC championship season the Mustangs had a conference record of 7-0-1. As a team in ’24, the Mustangs have allowed 19 goals and scored 63.
Next is a district semifinal game Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Zane Trace High School against the No. 6 seeded Lucasville Valley Indians at 8 p.m. Valley this season is 10-6-1 overall, as they defeated Portsmouth West in the district quarterfinals by a 6-1 score.
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