Mustangs finish district runners-up 

KINNIKINNICK — In a season where the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs boys soccer team regrouped and won their conference outright, they also advanced further in the postseason than the previous season, finishing their 2024 campaign as Division V SE District Runners-up on Saturday night.

Not starting their district final contest against No. 2 seeded South Webster until around 9:30 p.m. due to the game before going into a shootout, the Mustangs battled with the Jeeps of South Webster, but it was No. 3 seeded LCHS struggling to get momentum on offense, eventually leading to a 2-0 loss at Zane Trace High School.

The two goals scored by the Jeeps (15-4-1) were both near the goal and on loose balls that landed into the back of the net off kicks by Seth Hughes of South Webster.

“We struggled holding possession,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Jason West said. “We were just chasing the ball most of the night. I thought defensively, we did OK. It was scrums. The two goals that we got the other night is what we got scored against us tonight. That's just kind of the way it goes sometimes.”

The Jeeps led 1-0 at halftime off a goal by Hughes at the 2:35 mark of the first half, as the two teams battled for possession of the ball. The Jeeps seemed to have more pressure on offense, though the defense of the Mustangs stood strong for most of the match, as they entered the district final game not allowing a goal in five consecutive matches.

Hughes’ second goal was scored with 35:55 remaining in the second half.

On the other hand, the Jeeps were nearly the same in the shutout stats, allowing one goal in their previous five matches before their shutout win in the district final game on Saturday against LCHS.

Seniors for the Mustangs are Noah Bitzer, Asher Faust, Braedon West, Jay Cordrey, JJ Massey, Cody Bell, Austin Bell, Josiah Burns and Isaac Eyre.

“It's a big senior class,” West said. “These guys bided their time, because two years ago, we had another big senior class. Last year, it was a big change of trying to figure it out instead of being told what to do, how to lead. We struggled with that a little bit.

“I just told them tonight, as we were coming off the field there, that there's been some growing and some maturing, and they're not just looking out for ‘me, me, me.’ They understand that there's a ‘we’ in the team sports, and that was pretty nice to see.”

For the season, the Mustangs finish with a Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship with a 7-0-1 conference record, and overall the Mustangs finish at 14-4-2 overall, a six-win improvement from a season ago.

“The kids took our challenges coming off an 8-8 season last year and really performed,” West said. “It started out with what the world would call an upset over Minford with our first game, and we came back from down 0-3 and won 4-3. We had a couple of bumps in the road, but for the most part, these guys have played really consistent. We got another league title.

“We’ve got a couple of days off now, and then we'll start up in 30 days.”

BOX SCORE
LCHS    0 0 — 0
SWHS 1 1 — 2

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