McClain sweeps regular-season series with Hillsboro
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — For the second time this season, the McClain Tigers defeated their Highland County rival, this time defeating the Hillsboro Indians, 6-3 at Richards Memorial Field.
The Tuesday night South Central Ohio League victory was the second time this season the Tigers defeated the Indians, as MHS topped their rival, 5-1 on Aug. 29 at McClain Field in Greenfield.
McClain's star of the game was senior Juan Rivas, who totaled five goals in the SCOL victory. In their first meeting of the season, Rivas netted three goals, giving him eight goals against the Indians this season.
"Juan played an outstanding game," MHS head coach Jon Chamblin said. "We challenged the team at halftime, and Juan was one of the main guys I challenged, being a senior captain.
"He (Rivas) took the team upon his shoulders and got us back into the game. I'm proud of the way he responded and played."
Hillsboro coach John Weber also spoke highly of Rivas' play against his team.
"(Juan) Rivas was outstanding against us," he said. "We couldn't contain him, and he made us pay for our mistakes."
Though Rivas had five goals, Hillsboro was the first to score in the match as senior Patrick Shanahan scored a goal with a header off a corner kick by Brandon Elmore with 26:36 left in the opening half of play.
The HHS lead didn't make it out of the half, as Rivas scored the first goal of his five-goal match, this one leaving 2:33 remaining in the opening half, tying the score at 1-1, which stood to halftime.
Rivas didn't waste any time putting the Tigers into the lead, accepting and achieving the challenge of Coach Chamblin with flying colors as the senior scored the first two goals of the second half, within the first 12 minutes of the final 40 minutes of play for a 3-1 lead.
Hillsboro cut the Tigers' lead to one goal with 28:21 remaining in the half when Kobe Curtis put the ball past the keeper.
McClain's Mikel Pritchard gave MHS a two-goal lead again with a goal from 10 yards away for a 4-2 advantage with 26:00 on the second half scoreboard.
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The Indians, again, cut the Tigers' lead to a single goal with Dakota Brown making it a 4-3 score with 14:43 left in the match.
But the Indians could not stop Rivas, as he added goals with 8:30 and 4:00 remaining in the game.
"We played flat in the first half, and like I said earlier, we challenged the team at halftime," Chamblin said. "In the second half, we did the right things with our passing being crisper, and we challenged their keeper.
"I also want to credit our defensive play. We've been begging them to step up, and they did. Jeremiah Savage played well, especially."
Even in a loss (HHS is still winless on the season), Weber said this was the best game his team had played all season.
"We played our best soccer (Tuesday)," he said. "Not having our starting keeper hurt us, but this was the most goals we've scored all season.
"Our passing was excellent, but we just had some small problems that we need to continue to work on and fix. Our guys hustled, but it was some simple mistakes on defense that caught up with us."
HHS is 0-5-1 in the SCOL.
MHS will play at Chillicothe on Thursday. The Indians travel to play at Clinton-Massie Thursday, as both games are SCOL matches.
The Tuesday night South Central Ohio League victory was the second time this season the Tigers defeated the Indians, as MHS topped their rival, 5-1 on Aug. 29 at McClain Field in Greenfield.
McClain's star of the game was senior Juan Rivas, who totaled five goals in the SCOL victory. In their first meeting of the season, Rivas netted three goals, giving him eight goals against the Indians this season.
"Juan played an outstanding game," MHS head coach Jon Chamblin said. "We challenged the team at halftime, and Juan was one of the main guys I challenged, being a senior captain.
"He (Rivas) took the team upon his shoulders and got us back into the game. I'm proud of the way he responded and played."
Hillsboro coach John Weber also spoke highly of Rivas' play against his team.
"(Juan) Rivas was outstanding against us," he said. "We couldn't contain him, and he made us pay for our mistakes."
Though Rivas had five goals, Hillsboro was the first to score in the match as senior Patrick Shanahan scored a goal with a header off a corner kick by Brandon Elmore with 26:36 left in the opening half of play.
The HHS lead didn't make it out of the half, as Rivas scored the first goal of his five-goal match, this one leaving 2:33 remaining in the opening half, tying the score at 1-1, which stood to halftime.
Rivas didn't waste any time putting the Tigers into the lead, accepting and achieving the challenge of Coach Chamblin with flying colors as the senior scored the first two goals of the second half, within the first 12 minutes of the final 40 minutes of play for a 3-1 lead.
Hillsboro cut the Tigers' lead to one goal with 28:21 remaining in the half when Kobe Curtis put the ball past the keeper.
McClain's Mikel Pritchard gave MHS a two-goal lead again with a goal from 10 yards away for a 4-2 advantage with 26:00 on the second half scoreboard.
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The Indians, again, cut the Tigers' lead to a single goal with Dakota Brown making it a 4-3 score with 14:43 left in the match.
But the Indians could not stop Rivas, as he added goals with 8:30 and 4:00 remaining in the game.
"We played flat in the first half, and like I said earlier, we challenged the team at halftime," Chamblin said. "In the second half, we did the right things with our passing being crisper, and we challenged their keeper.
"I also want to credit our defensive play. We've been begging them to step up, and they did. Jeremiah Savage played well, especially."
Even in a loss (HHS is still winless on the season), Weber said this was the best game his team had played all season.
"We played our best soccer (Tuesday)," he said. "Not having our starting keeper hurt us, but this was the most goals we've scored all season.
"Our passing was excellent, but we just had some small problems that we need to continue to work on and fix. Our guys hustled, but it was some simple mistakes on defense that caught up with us."
HHS is 0-5-1 in the SCOL.
MHS will play at Chillicothe on Thursday. The Indians travel to play at Clinton-Massie Thursday, as both games are SCOL matches.