Tigers end season on a shootout; fall in sectional finals
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The championship season of the McClain Tigers ended with a bang. The Tigers and the Fairfield-Union Falcons battled into a shootout on Saturday afternoon, with the Falcons winning the shootout, after 100 minutes of soccer, for a 3-2 Division II SE District Sectional Final win.
The Tigers finish the season as back-to-back South Central Ohio League champions, falling in the sectional finals for the second straight season. MHS finishes with an overall record of 13-3-2.
Before the game McClain coach Shawn Jackson told his team in the huddle to "Don't walk off the field with regrets. Leave it all on the field."
"This was a great game. What can you say about the guys on the field? They played with all heart," Jackson said. "They left the field as men today.
"All year we've talked about playing with heart, and they did that."
Saturday, at McClain Field, was a little different as they had to play from behind, with the Tigers fighting off a one-goal deficit late in the second half, tying the game at two, along with solid defense to keep the score tied, forcing overtime.
Neither team was able to capitalize in either 10-minute overtime, then came the shootout.
For the shootout the Tigers sent Daniel White, Steven Barber, Shane Hall, Trey Lytle and Sam Henry to the goal. Fairfield-Union sent Brandon Kopis, Shea Shmelzer, Derek Clark, Gareth Boyd and Devin McKown.
The Falcons led 1-0 after each team had an opportunity to score in the shootout. Barber kicked the ball above to the keeper to make it 1-1 in the shootout, but a goal by Shmelzer put Fairfield-Union up 2-1.
Hall made his chance at the goal, kicking the ball to the right side of the net, but he was answered by Clark.
Leading 3-1 in the shootout, FUHS keeper Conner Litt stopped the Tigers' next chance at the goal, and the final opportunity to keep MHS in the game bounced off the left post of the goal.
Though the season is over for the Tigers, they put up a championship effort throughout the game, as did the Falcons.
McClain was first to score in the opening half of regulation on a goal by junior Luis Rivas (35:42) with the pass from Henry. Rivas' kick was a rocket straight into the the middle of the net.
Rivas' goal was the only goal of the first half; though each team had numerous opportunities at the goal, saves by MHS keeper Ryan Case and Litt of the Falcons prevented them.
Case had a couple nice saves in the first half, one coming with 5:30 left with a sliding stop, kicking the ball away from the goal. Case had another big stop on a direct kick, diving to stop the ball's route to the net with 1:57 left. Case had seven saves in the first half.
McKown started the second half off quick for FUHS, scoring on a sliding rebound kick, off a rebound, with 33:55 left in the second half. Case had just dived and blocked an attempt to score by the Falcons when McKown caught the defense out of position for the goal.
McKown put his team up 2-1 with 13:30 left in regulation. With pressure, the senior captain of Fairfield-Union kicked the ball into the right corner of the net for the lead.
The Falcons didn't have the lead for long.
It was Rivas, again, who put points on the scoreboard of the Tigers, this time with a wide-open sliding kick into the net. Rivas left the game twice in the two overtime periods due to a leg injury.
Case managed to keep his team in the game as the Falcons pressured the Tigers' defense with saves at 10:14 and 7:44, which changed the complexion on the match.
At one point, with 5:58 left in regulation, the Tigers' defense held off a strong offensive attack by the Falcons with Barber, Chris Wiseman and Shane Hall, along with Case stopping the Falcons from scoring. FUHS attempted three straight shots at goal in a short span of time. One final shot at goal with 48 seconds left in the second half by the Falcons was too high.
In a game of excellent keeper play by both teams, Litt and Case didn't allow a single goal in the final two 10 minute OT's, with each keeper, again, playing top-notch in protecting their goal.
"There were times when we couldn't win any games, and now we are two-time SCOL champions. You can't ask for more. I couldn't do this without coach Jon Chamblin," Jackson said. "I'm proud to coach these guys."
Six seniors played their final match for the Tigers, including: Geoffery Mitchell, Daniel White, Shane Hall, Chris Wiseman, Steven Barber and Scott Balzer.
"Each one of these guys had to start from the bottom," Jackson said. "I'm proud of them. In this type of game, someone has to lose and someone has to win. That's soccer."
Jackson talked about the Tigers' season.
"This is one of the greatest seasons at McClain," Jackson said. "We had an SCOL title, 13 wins, undefeated in the SCOL, I can't complain about a season like that. We told the guys they have no reason to hold their head down. If they sit on this, it will last a lifetime. It's going to hurt, but we have to move on."
Fairfield-Union will play again, in the district semifinals, on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. at Valley High School against Chillicothe, who defeated Warren, 1-0.
In the sectional semifinals, McClain defeated Logan Elm, 7-3 and the Falcons defeated Miami Trace, also of the SCOL, 8-1.
SCORE BY HALF
FUHS 0 2 0 0 (3) — 3
MHS 1 1 0 0 (2) — 2
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