Whiteoak fends off Highland County counterpart McClain

GREENFIELD — Though the McClain Tigers had a strong surge of scoring in the final minutes, the Whiteoak Wildcats’ four goals and strong defense in the final 90 seconds were enough for the visitors to defeat the host Tigers by a 4-3 score Thursday at McClain Field.

Whiteoak sophomore Abe Flader’s three goals, plus a goal from senior Tyler Wessner, helped the Wildcats gain their fourth win of the ‘24 season, as WHS led 3-1 at halftime.

Whiteoak’s first goal of the game came with 38:30 left in the opening half as the lightning-quick goal came off the foot of Flader for the early 1-0 lead against the host Tigers.

Flader added the second goal of the Highland County showdown at McClain Field, as he put the ball in the back of the net off a kick from around 20 yards away with the assist from Tyler Wessner with 29:26 left in the first half. Flader now has seven goals this season.

The Tigers cut into the lead of visiting Whiteoak in half with a goal at the 23:59 mark of the opening half, as Creed Davis put McClain on the scoreboard for a 2-1 score.

Whiteoak built back their two-goal lead with 18:36 left in the opening half, as Wessner scored a goal on a penalty kick for the 3-1 score, as that score stood when halftime arrived. With the goal, Wessner’s goal total is up to 14 this season.

The Tigers controlled more of the offense in the second half, but it was WHS taking a three-goal lead with 3:58 left in regulation as Flader earned a hat trick with an unassisted goal with 3:58 left on the McClain Field scoreboard.

“We had a nice lead there, but then we kind of gave up some easy goals that we shouldn't have. So definitely was a lot closer than what I thought it should be,” Whiteoak head coach Adam Schelling said. “We controlled a lot of the first half, but in the second half, they definitely had it down on our end a lot, and applied the pressure. Their top two guys were hard to guard. They're fast. They shot hard, but I felt like our goalie (Jackson Tedford) played well, came up with some very big saves.

“Our four defenders, Grady Roberts, Cody Richards, Gideon Swingle and Christopher Wessner, came up big there at the end, locking it down. Kenny Hughes played big in the middle. Offensively, we did well. Abe had those three goals and we had one nice assist from Tyler, and then he had a nice penalty kick goal himself. So it's good to come out here with a win after having a tough, heartbreaking loss at Fairfield.”

McClain didn’t stop playing when trailing by three goals; rather, they battled back, as they scored two goals in a span of under two minutes.

The first of the two final goals scored by McClain came with 2:18 left in the match when Gustavo Simas scored the goal for a 4-2 score.

McClain’s final goal came with 1:31 on the clock as Brynnen Babbs put the ball into the back of the net for a 4-3 score.

“Many times this season we have been in positions where we could give up, and they refuse to,” McClain head coach John Gill said. “I think it's them playing for each other. There's something that they just want to play for each other. They don't ever want to give up. They want to motivate each other, and I really appreciate that about them.

“I mean, if you came to our first open fields back in late May, this is a completely different-looking squad. We essentially returned five players from last year's team. We have basically added 13 players. So this team is completely built of different players from last year. We only have two starters from last year. We're growing and learning every single game.”

The Tigers had another opportunity for a goal on a corner kick opportunity, but the Whiteoak defense was able to make the stop and kick the ball away from the net to seal the win in the final 45 seconds of the match.

Gill spoke more about his players and credited Whiteoak.

“Rayden Daugherty, he is captain for a reason. I've had him in class for the past three years. He's such a good leader,” Gill said. “Obviously, you’ve got to shout out to Whiteoak. They're off to a flying start as far as I'm concerned. I look forward to playing them for hopefully many years to come. I think this could be a very fun rivalry between us.”

For the match, WHS keeper Jackson Tedford totaled 10 saves. Thus far in ’24, Tedford has 69 saves for the Wildcats.

Whiteoak’s win improves them to 4-3-0 overall, while McClain now sits at 2-8-0 overall.

Schelling also spoke about how the season has been for WHS, as this is their first varsity season since bringing back the program at WHS, as last season WHS played a JV schedule.

“It's been really fun. These kids are great. They work hard. A lot of them have never played before. So, I mean, a lot of them will start with the basics. Some of them have played, so kind of working on that balance of helping build the ones who have never played before, and helping the ones who have played to work together,” Schelling said. “It's been a fun season. We’ve got a lot of kids wanting to work. We’ve got 25 kids, and they all come ready to work. We got a few JV kids, and next year we're going to gain some more, so it's been fun.”

Next for McClain is a Frontier Athletic Conference match against the Jackson Ironmen on Tuesday, Sept. 24 vs. Jackson at 7 p.m.

Whiteoak is scheduled to play next on Monday, Sept. 23 at home against the West Union Dragons in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action at 4:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE
WHS    3 1 — 4
MHS    1 2 — 3

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