Falcons hold off Mohawks in SOC II

September 1 — Ex

Minford Senior Carson Cronin (31) fights North West Senior Brady Robbie, 21, for possession of the ball during a Southern Ohio Conference Division II boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at Minford High School.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Grant Wheeler, 18, of Menford maintains possession against Caleb Lewis, 7, of Northwestern during the Ohio Southern Conference Division II boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at Menford High School.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Northwestern’s Jay Jenkins (1) tries to keep the ball in while Menford senior Carson Cronin defends during the Ohio Southern Conference Division II boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at Menford High School.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Minford Junior goaltender Cady Glockner kicks the ball away during the Division II Southern Ohio Falcons boys’ soccer game against Northwest on Tuesday night.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Carson Cronin, 31, of Menford, and Brady Roby, 21, of Northwestern, compete for possession during a Division II Ohio Southern Conference boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at Menford High School.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Grant Wheeler, 18, of Menford maintains possession against Caleb Lewis, 7, of Northwestern during the Ohio Southern Conference Division II boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at Menford High School.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Minford Junior goaltender Cady Glockner kicks the ball away during the Division II Southern Ohio Falcons boys’ soccer game against Northwest on Tuesday night.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

Carson Cronin, 31, of Menford, and Brady Roby, 21, of Northwestern, compete for possession during a Division II Ohio Southern Conference boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at Menford High School.

Paul Boggs – Daily Times

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Menford – This time around, host Menford Falcons wanted to make sure the Northwest Mohawks weren’t in the same position the West had been for the former Ohio Southern Conference Division II tilt to the Falcons.

So the Falcons got an early overtime, responded on the Mohawk’s lone rebound, and then made Miles Montgomery’s mark mean big in the second half of the second half.

Minford, a two-time defending SOC II champion including last year’s share with Wallersburg, made sure they stayed undefeated Tuesday night – beating Upper District Mohawks 3-1 in a pre-season Boys Soccer Conference key game at the Falcons’ Nest.

The Falcons, in the West last Thursday night, saw the host Senators score on a penalty kick in the dying minutes – securing a 1-1 tie to the surprise of many SOC II football watchers, and the Falcons themselves.

So the game plan on Tuesday night, according to Minford’s third-year head coach Jacob Hackworth, was to “start fast.”

They needed just three minutes and 41 seconds to do so, as Ethan Cordell’s shot rebounded off the crossbar straight into Gavin Downey on the right-hand side – as Downey Hit the ball from close range to the right center of the 90.

“I told the guys that in the first five minutes, we’re not going to win the game, but we can get that momentum on our side and set the tone early and tell them we’re coming,” Hackworth said. “We scored a goal, Gavin is always the guy in the right place at the right time, that’s a sign of a player who works hard.”

The Falcons finished the game strong too – getting their only score of the second half when speedy forward Montgomery took a pass near midfield, simply darted forward with three or four touches and beat Northwest goalkeeper Logan Shepherd.

That gave the juniors a career high 39 goals.

With the win, Minford raised his record to 4-0-1 – and to 1-0-1 in the highly competitive SOC II Championship.

The first loss was to the Mohawks, making them 3-1-0 and 1-1-0.

Hackworth spoke of the Falcons’ ability to bounce back from the Western tie.

In fact, although it wasn’t a loss, it wasn’t a win either.

The Falcons, in between, beat Al Wadi 6-0 – in a non-league clash on Saturday night.

“Anytime you win in this league it’s a good win. And as West has proven, no game is easy. Northwest always bring energy and we knew what to expect, and I’m very pleased with the way we responded from this tie,” Hackworth said. “I think we are heading in the right direction. We have a lot of key players who don’t have a lot of experience, so I feel every game we’re going to improve and improve. Looking forward to the journey here we can do it. Make.”

For Northwest’s 15-year coach, Josh Kenny, it wasn’t the ideal opening for Tuesday’s game, as he played on Bermuda’s turf at Minford Football Complex, compared to the turf of other league affairs, with the exception of South Webster.

“For some reason we haven’t started well all summer, all pre-season or all season so far. We just got off to slow starts and that’s been killing us all year,” he said. “You can’t go down 1-0 against any team in the league, especially Menford and Wallersburg like that, and try to dig yourself out of the hole. It showed tonight.”

But the Mohawks managed to tie the game at 1-1 with 9:12 to play in the first period — on a long, rocketing shot by Caleb Lewis.

Just outside the goal area, Lewis volleyed a single shot into the top right corner of the 90′ - over the outstretched arms of Minford’s young goalkeeper Cade Glockner.

But these draws did not last long.

Cordell came right back at the 4:25 mark for Falcon’s second tally – after an assist from Montgomery, and the 27th assist of his career career touchdown.

Once again, it’s what the Falcons wanted, not so much the Mohawk.

Minford had 18 shots, including 10 on goal, while Shepherd made three saves.

“Every time I thought we had something, they responded and did a good job of responding,” Kenny said.

“Caleb (Lewis) has a good left foot and hits the ball well, but then again, our guys responded within a few minutes. As a manager, that’s all you can ask for,” said Hackworth. “Ethan is the sixth or seventh player to score or assist for us, so we’re involved a lot. That’s a really good thing.”

Another good thing for the Falcons – Glockner denied Lewis a penalty with just 1 minute and 38 seconds left in the first half, keeping the lead at 2-1.

It was one of 13 attempted shootings in the Northwest.

“I thought we had a good opportunity with PK to adjust the momentum before half-time in our favour,” said Kenny. “But that shot us in the half and we didn’t get in. After we fought and fought and fought there.”

Hackworth has three goalkeepers, he said, as Glockner got the bill on Tuesday night – with senior Kyle Laxton replacing him on the interim.

“We’ve had a battle all summer with our goalkeepers. We’ve got three really good goalkeepers, and I’m sure all three of them can either start or come on as a substitute at any moment. Cade got the call tonight”, said the coach. “We scouted and went with history. And they went the way we called it in practice. That was a great momentum for us before half-time. We went aggressively and went out and scored another goal there in the second half.” “

This goal was simply to have Montgomery outsmart everyone else.

“We’ve been able to contain Miles all night up to that point, but you can’t let a guy like him out free,” Kenny said. “All it takes is one time. He made us pay.”

Hackworth agreed.

“Miles will wear you down in the end,” he said. “He’s not the most skilful player, but he’s solid and physique, and he has a knack for pissing the defense off enough to finally break it.” “I felt he should have had a brace in the first half.”

But he did get a goal that made all the difference, giving the Falcons a 3-1 lead with just 19 minutes left in the game.

“I think we played very well, both teams took quite a few shots,” Kenny said. “They just finished their shot and we didn’t.”

The clubs have collected eight yellow cards between themselves as well – five for the Mohawks and three for the Falcons.

Jay Jenkins, the Northwest’s leading tackler along with Lewis, had a two-second zero with just 4:18 remaining, which is the equivalent of a soft red card and a mandatory one-game ban.

The hot competition issue has become very physical, very fast.

“It’s always physical with us and Menford, us and Wallersburg,” Kenny said. “There are a lot of yellow cards. Unfortunately, Guy got his second yellow at the end.” “But you have to give credit to Minford. They punched us in the mouth early on with that first goal, and then kept it up the whole time. We gotta give them credit. They’re going to come back (SOC II race) again.”

“I’ve said in the past few years that it’s a league game and that top teams will fight like that. You’ll see a lot of yellow cards, but it’s not dirty play. They’re all good kids who play hard.” Hackworth said.

Jenkins missed the Mohawks game in Wheelersburg Thursday night, as the Pirates came back undefeated and untied – now 5-0-0 and 3-0-0 in SOC II.

Minford moved up another rung on the ladder – the Falcons bombed Waverly on Thursday.

But on Tuesday night, the secret to the Falcons’ success was a quick start, a good answer, and going for the extra “miles” towards the end.

“I told my teammates we always have to match them or be above their effort. I thought we had the skill advantage over Northwest tonight but if they try a little more they can steal the game or draw. But if we can do that.” “We made an effort or passed it, I thought we were going to be in good shape,” said Hackworth. “So we are happy to win.”

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Northwest 1 0 —1

Minford 2 1 – 3

MEDIUM – Gavin Downey (unassisted), 36:19, first (1-0m)

N – Caleb Lewis (unassisted), 9:12, first (1-1 tie)

M – Ethan Cordell (pass by Miles Montgomery), 4:25, 1st (2-1m)

M – Miles Montgomery (unassisted), 18:57, second (3-1m)

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