By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Southeast had its chances.

The Pirates’ scoreless tie at halftime Oct. 5 at home against Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Division foe Campbell Memorial could have been much different.

“In the first half,” head coach Curtis Ahrens said, “we had two one-v-ones with Memorial’s goalie by senior attacking midfielder Cole Bruno and junior Bradley Dillon. They both put the ball right into the goalie inside the 6-yard box.”

Memorial took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the second half, which held up until senior Cole Bruno tied the score with about four minutes and 30 seconds left off an assist from junior goalkeeper Garret Davis, who notched four saves on the night. Davis kicked the ball from about Southeast’s 45-yard line into the box. Bruno brought it down, flicked it up to himself and then chested the ball in the net after beating the goalie on the turn.

“It was real nice,” said Ahrens.

The Pirates had a free kick in the final minutes, a golden opportunity to perhaps win the game, but, as the coach put it, “Nobody was willing to sacrifice their body and put the ball in.”

One last shot on goal was unsuccessful. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, leaving the Pirates with an 8-4-1 overall record and a 4-2-1 division mark.

“We definitely had the momentum the last 10 minutes of the game. My players didn’t give up until the very end,” said the coach. “We’re really starting to look like soccer players out there. Bradley and Cole, senior Dylan Dorsey and sophomore Jackson Oyster … we’ve really solidified our offense and they’re really starting to connect with one another, making a lot of combination give-and-goes and wall passes. Not only are we playing well, it’s soccer that’s really fun to watch. It’s been a nice turnaround from last year (when the team won just three games). Freshman starting center back Junior Flores is out for the rest of the season due to a fractured patella, but the team remains focused.

“Once we got that news,” Ahrens said, “we could’ve put our heads down and said, ‘Okay, we lost our starting center back. Or we could respond, and the boys have really responded and started fighting for games and working well together. They’re lifting each other up with positivity, and it’s showing in their play. We lost one player, but the next guy stepped up, and we’re starting to look really good come playoff time. As long as we can keep the injuries to a minimum, we should be good.”

The icing on the cake was that it was Senior Night, and all four seniors — Bruno, Dorsey, Ethan Brittingham and Anderson Bowers — played the entire 80 minutes of the games.

“That showed a lot of heart,” said Ahrens.

CRESTWOOD

Crestwood’s opponent on Sept. 29, Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division rival Kirtland, had a very deceiving overall win-loss record of 5-4-1.

“Kirtland is a powerhouse. They play a tough non-conference schedule,” head coach Amanda Parsons said. “They’re a well-rounded team, they have multiple threats at different levels.”

The Red Devils are no slouches themselves as they entered the home game with a 7-4-2 mark. They trailed the Hornets by only 1-0 at halftime but wound up losing 4-0. They are now 7-6-2 overall and 1-4 in the division.

“It started off pretty well,” said Parsons. “We were hanging in there, we were competitive. We were doing a pretty good job of holding Kirtland off. The first goal they scored was a beautiful cross to a header. It was really hard for our boys and our goalkeeper to defend off that. We held them to the end of the half, so we felt like we were gaining a little bit of momentum.”

The coach adjusted her team’s formation at halftime from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 to try to

spark the offense, but it did not work the way she hoped.

To make matters worse, two of the three Kirtland goals in the second half were nearly saved by senior goalkeeper Gabe Weaver.

“Gabe,” said Parsons, “made incredible diving saves on both, but wasn’t able to keep the ball in his hands. He bumped it out and our defense couldn’t get there to clear it out before Kirtland came and put the ball in the back of the net.”

Weaver ended up with 16 saves.

“Gabe did incredible for us,” Parsons said.

Senior center back Owen Overfield helped keep the home team’s deficit at bay.

“Without Owen back there,” the coach said, “it could’ve totally been a different ballgame. He’s really been doing a good job of controlling the back line.”

WATERLOO

The injury bug has bitten head coach Brian Spence and his Waterloo team this season.

Slowly but surely, though, the wounded Vikings are returning to the lineup.

Proof positive was what occurred on Oct. 5 when Waterloo snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 triumph at home over Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Division rival Youngstown Liberty. The game actually had begun some two weeks earlier, but was suspended with the home team leading 2-0 with six minutes to go in the first half due to inclement weather.

The Vikings are now 6-8 overall and 4-5 in the division.

Freshman midfielder Wyatt Boyle scored two goals — one in part one and the other in part two.

“Wyatt has been coming along very well,” Spence said. “He’s been playing everywhere. He played defense for a while, he played forward for a while and now he’s playing midfield. He’s just been willing to go wherever.”

Freshman midfielder Matt White scored on a penalty kick, senior midfielder Mason Biltz had an assist and senior goalkeeper Austin Mazur had six saves.

“We scored two goals in a row off of corner kicks. Everybody played well,” said the coach. “We can win just about any game we play. If the players can focus and put it all together, we can win.”

AURORA

Head coach Louis Kastelic challenged his players at halftime of Aurora’s home game on Oct. 1 against Chagrin Falls.

Problem was, the Greenmen were already trailing the Tigers 2-0.

“We hadn’t really mustered up a whole lot of offense in the first half,” Kastelic said. “I challenged the guys to be a little bit more aggressive and physical, which we did to an extent. We didn’t give up any goals in the second half but still couldn’t muster anything going forward. At that point in the game, Chagrin Falls definitely seemed to be hitting on more cylinders than us.”

The 2-0 score held up through the final whistle, leaving the Greenmen with a 5-8-2 record.

“Chagrin Falls was definitely the better team,” said the coach. “They had a little bit more composure and size that played into them having good, quality chances going forward.”

Senior goalkeeper Joe Fielding managed seven saves and had a decent game in defeat.

“Joe played pretty well,” Kastelic said. “Unfortunately, two got by him, but it’s a team thing. There were breakdowns ahead of him. On the first one, he actually caught the ball but then dropped it, and the Chagrin Falls guy came in and knocked it in. Joe would tell you he’d like that one back. He’s bounced around a little bit this year and wasn’t getting as much playing time early on as I’m sure he would’ve liked. He’s doing more communicating now and using his voice to be a leader from the back.”

Kastelic believes his players learned a little more about themselves in the loss to Chagrin Falls.

“We’ve been working on some things,” he said, “so we’re feeling better about what we can do moving forward.”

RAVENNA

The main reason Ravenna is 1-13-1 overall and 0-9 in the Metro Athletic Conference is certainly not its defense. It’s the offense — or a lack of it. The Ravens have been blanked 10 times and have scored only 10 goals all season.

“It’s hard to play the game when you can’t score,” head coach Eric Hedge said. “The players get frustrated, but there hasn’t been quit in this team, that’s for sure.”

Several opposing coaches have told Hedge in recent weeks that his team’s record is deceiving.

“They say our record doesn’t show the kind of team we have,” he said. “I think that speaks to the players. You can only play with what you’ve got, and we just don’t have that prolific scorer like a lot of teams in the conference do.

“It’s obviously not the season we’d hoped for, but the second half of the season I feel like the kids are playing with a lot more heart and a lot more grit and just trying to believe in themselves.”

A perfect example — a microcosm of the season actually — was Ravenna’s 2-1 defeat Oct. 5 at home to MAC rival Woodridge. With the Ravens staring at a 2-0 deficit midway through the second half, senior defender Jack Rainone scored on a free kick, but that was as close as Ravenna would get.

“Jack is a special kind of kid,” said the coach. “He plays with a lot of grit, a lot of heart, which sometimes gets him in trouble. He’s really stepped up this year as a senior leader. Technically, he’s our best defender when it comes to the inside.”

Junior goalkeeper Johnny Adams had a fine game.

“Johnny had a good game,” said Hedge. “He didn’t start playing keeper until last year, and this year has improved by leaps and bounds. He understands the game a lot better this year. He’s kept us in a lot of games this season.”