Hat Trick: Tigers 3-peat as SCOL champions 
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The McClain Tigers have earned a hat-trick as they have won their third consecutive South Central Ohio League championship, defeating the Washington Blue Lions 6-1 Tuesday night at McClain Field.
A quick fact … the Tigers have clinched all three of their SCOL championships on their home field, defeating the London Red Raiders for the past two championships.
In the past three seasons, the Tigers are 29-2-3 in SCOL matches, including 10-2 in their '09 title and 10-0-2 in the '10 title.
"This one is a little sweeter than the other two," McClain coach Shawn Jackson said. "We still have a chance to go undefeated, and that is our goal right now.
"We have nine seniors, seven that have been a part of all three SCOL titles, but we aren't finished yet."
On Tuesday, it was three goals from senior Sam Henry and three goals from senior Luis Rivas that put the Tigers up 6-1, allowing them to ring their Victory Bell for the third straight season.
"For me, this shows how far Greenfield soccer has come," senior Sam Henry said following the match. "We didn't know what soccer was 10 years ago in Greenfield, and now we've won three SCOL championships.
"We (the seniors) have played soccer together since we were 8 or 9 years old, and this was our team. It was absolutely amazing to see all of this come to fruition."
The win puts the Tigers at 9-0-1 in the SCOL for a total of 28 points in league play. They have two league games remaining with Clinton-Massie and Miami Trace.
McClain's first goal came 20 seconds into the match with Henry scoring on a penalty kick for the 1-0 Tiger advantage.
The lead didn't last long with Washington's David Henry tying the match at 1-1 with a penalty kick goal of his own with 35:38 on the clock in the first half.
Henry put the Tigers in the lead for what would be the remainder of the match with a goal at the 28:24 mark of the first half with the assist from Rivas.
Leading by one goal wasn't enough for the now back-to-back-to-back SCOL champion Tigers, as Rivas scored on a wide-open goal where he went one-on-one with the keeper after taking the ball nearly 40 yards alone, then scoring with 23:50 for the 3-1 lead.
With 12:22 left in the half, Henry accomplished a first-half hat-trick with his third goal of the match.
"We came out and played like we wanted," Jackson said. "We did an excellent job. This team has great leadership from the seniors."
Leading 4-1 at the start of the second half, Rivas scored on a header with 34:02 left in the match, and he accomplished a hat-trick with 12:28 left on the clock by sliding while kicking the ball into an empty net as the keeper was out of position for the 6-1 lead.
"This title took a lot of hard work. We have great kids on this team, and that is because they have great parents. My assistant coach Jon Chamblin is a big help, and we couldn't have done this without him," Jackson said. "This is such a great group of kids."
This win was three seasons in the making as seven of the nine MHS seniors have been a part of all three SCOL titles. Those seniors are: Trey Lytle, Rivas, Henry, Trevor Figgins, Ryan Case, Jarred White and Jimmy Free. The other seniors playing in their final home regular-season game were Caleb Savage and Kaleb Osceola.
"This is great," White said when asked to describe what winning three championships was like. "When we started here, we were lucky to get five or six wins, but to be the best team in the league for three years … it's just great.
"From being the team expected to be in last place to winning three championships, we've come a long way."
Another senior, Lytle, also talked on behalf of the team and the senior class that has been champions three times.
"When we won the first one, it was unbelievable, and this one is great, too," he said. "Now that we won this, we still have a lot more work to do."
McClain plays again on Thursday as they travel to Clinton-Massie. Next week they wrap up their SCOL slate with a trip to Miami Trace.
The 2011 SCOL champion Tigers include: Sam Henry, Ryan Case, Luis Rivas, Trevor Figgins, Jimmy Free, Trey Lytle, Jarred White, Caleb Savage, Kaleb Osceola, Ben Chamblin, Chris Parker, Rob Free, Nick Rivas, Reid Garrison, Lincoln O'Connor, Zack Harper, Tommy Free and Kieran O'Hearn.[[In-content Ad]]
A quick fact … the Tigers have clinched all three of their SCOL championships on their home field, defeating the London Red Raiders for the past two championships.
In the past three seasons, the Tigers are 29-2-3 in SCOL matches, including 10-2 in their '09 title and 10-0-2 in the '10 title.
"This one is a little sweeter than the other two," McClain coach Shawn Jackson said. "We still have a chance to go undefeated, and that is our goal right now.
"We have nine seniors, seven that have been a part of all three SCOL titles, but we aren't finished yet."
On Tuesday, it was three goals from senior Sam Henry and three goals from senior Luis Rivas that put the Tigers up 6-1, allowing them to ring their Victory Bell for the third straight season.
"For me, this shows how far Greenfield soccer has come," senior Sam Henry said following the match. "We didn't know what soccer was 10 years ago in Greenfield, and now we've won three SCOL championships.
"We (the seniors) have played soccer together since we were 8 or 9 years old, and this was our team. It was absolutely amazing to see all of this come to fruition."
The win puts the Tigers at 9-0-1 in the SCOL for a total of 28 points in league play. They have two league games remaining with Clinton-Massie and Miami Trace.
McClain's first goal came 20 seconds into the match with Henry scoring on a penalty kick for the 1-0 Tiger advantage.
The lead didn't last long with Washington's David Henry tying the match at 1-1 with a penalty kick goal of his own with 35:38 on the clock in the first half.
Henry put the Tigers in the lead for what would be the remainder of the match with a goal at the 28:24 mark of the first half with the assist from Rivas.
Leading by one goal wasn't enough for the now back-to-back-to-back SCOL champion Tigers, as Rivas scored on a wide-open goal where he went one-on-one with the keeper after taking the ball nearly 40 yards alone, then scoring with 23:50 for the 3-1 lead.
With 12:22 left in the half, Henry accomplished a first-half hat-trick with his third goal of the match.
"We came out and played like we wanted," Jackson said. "We did an excellent job. This team has great leadership from the seniors."
Leading 4-1 at the start of the second half, Rivas scored on a header with 34:02 left in the match, and he accomplished a hat-trick with 12:28 left on the clock by sliding while kicking the ball into an empty net as the keeper was out of position for the 6-1 lead.
"This title took a lot of hard work. We have great kids on this team, and that is because they have great parents. My assistant coach Jon Chamblin is a big help, and we couldn't have done this without him," Jackson said. "This is such a great group of kids."
This win was three seasons in the making as seven of the nine MHS seniors have been a part of all three SCOL titles. Those seniors are: Trey Lytle, Rivas, Henry, Trevor Figgins, Ryan Case, Jarred White and Jimmy Free. The other seniors playing in their final home regular-season game were Caleb Savage and Kaleb Osceola.
"This is great," White said when asked to describe what winning three championships was like. "When we started here, we were lucky to get five or six wins, but to be the best team in the league for three years … it's just great.
"From being the team expected to be in last place to winning three championships, we've come a long way."
Another senior, Lytle, also talked on behalf of the team and the senior class that has been champions three times.
"When we won the first one, it was unbelievable, and this one is great, too," he said. "Now that we won this, we still have a lot more work to do."
McClain plays again on Thursday as they travel to Clinton-Massie. Next week they wrap up their SCOL slate with a trip to Miami Trace.
The 2011 SCOL champion Tigers include: Sam Henry, Ryan Case, Luis Rivas, Trevor Figgins, Jimmy Free, Trey Lytle, Jarred White, Caleb Savage, Kaleb Osceola, Ben Chamblin, Chris Parker, Rob Free, Nick Rivas, Reid Garrison, Lincoln O'Connor, Zack Harper, Tommy Free and Kieran O'Hearn.[[In-content Ad]]