Mustangs are headed to the Sweet 16; win district championship

JACKSON — Physicality, playing highly skilled soccer, and a determination to keep their season alive all added up to the No. 3 seeded Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs celebrating a 2026 district championship, as they took down the second-seeded Valley Indians, 2-1 at Alumni Stadium Saturday in Jackson. 

The Mustangs (16-3-1) scored two first-half goals, and not only that, they played a tenacious game of soccer where it seemed no team was going to get in their way of hoisting the championship trophy and shouting to everyone that they were the district champions. 

Lynchburg-Clay head coach Jason West — who has now coached three district championship teams at LCHS — spoke about the resilience his team has had this postseason. Not only did the Mustangs lose
senior captain Aric Slack in the final game of the regular season due to a concussion, but fellow teammate Colton Short suffered a broken wrist in the district semifinal double-overtime/shootout thriller, where he played the entire second overtime with the injured wrist.  

“We have a resilient group, right? It was a big blow in our last game of the season to lose our captain (Aric Slack) to a concussion,” West said. “More than that, you know, just the fact that the severity of his injury was concerning. It tears at his heart right now not to be able to be a part of that. 

“Then that never-ending marathon with Eastern. At the end of the second overtime, Colton Short comes off the field, just kind of holding his arm, and just looks at me and says, ‘I think I broke my arm,’ and he had a knot the size of a baseball on top of his wrist, and turns out he took a ball to the arm during kickoff, so he played the entire 15 minutes of that game with a broken arm.”

West continued to speak proudly of his team as he continued to tout their resilience as his team celebrated their district championship with their family, friends and fans at Alumni Stadium on Holzer Field. 

“When I talk about resilience, like not only mentally and emotionally, but we've got some doggone tough kids, and those kids inspired those that had the opportunity to play today,” West said. “Today was the closest thing to a full-team approach to soccer that I can honestly say we've had this year. That says a lot considering we were coming in with 15 victories. I just can't stress enough to these kids what their true potential is.”

Playing to that potential started in the first half for the Mustangs when they played scoreless soccer for nearly the first 30 minutes of the match, as each team had a chance to put the first goal on the board earlier than it occurred. 

That said, the defenses of each team stood their ground in that first 30 minutes of play, with LC fighting off offensive pressure by the Indians, including getting the ball away from their goal, as a shot by Valley bounced off the right-side post with 29:50 left in the first half. 

The Mustangs had a corner kick with 29:30 on the first-half clock, and then back on defense, keeper Tanner Roberts made a spectacular sliding save in front of the net with 22:55 remaining in the opening half of action. 

LC’s defense continued to keep the Indians from scoring the first goal with a defensive stop by senior Levi Fields with around 20:35 left on the scoreboard. 

With the Mustangs’ defense doing what they do best — keeping teams from scoring goals (they’ve had 11 shutouts this season) — Lynchburg-Clay’s offense was first to score a goal with 11:52 on the clock as     sophomore Jason Butler, with players all around him, put the ball into the back of the right side of the net, past the diving and outstretched keeper for the 1-0 Mustangs lead. 

“It feels great, and it feels awesome,” Butler said of scoring the goal, playing in a physical game and winning the district championship. “We all tried to play our best.”

Coach West talked about how Butler overcame some chest issues that occurred in the district semifinal match earlier in the week, then being able to put the Mustangs ahead in the first half on Saturday. 

“Jason Butler, he was another one that took a knock during the Eastern game, went and had some chest X-rays done. He was having some trouble breathing, and he hasn't practiced the last two days, comes out here and I didn't take the kid off the field,” West said. “He's playing in our 10, which with the change in formation just increased the level of running that was required, and he just played a great game and got our first goal.”

He also spoke about the play of junior Darryn Odum and how the Indians were forced to focus on him in the first half.

Odum talked following the game about the match and winning the district championship. 

“I think it's pretty fun playing aggressive. It is stressful, it hurts, but it's fun too. That's what soccer is,” Odum said. “This game was pretty exciting, stressful, and these games get your heart pumping, and that makes me run faster and play harder.”

Then it was Roberts’ turn to make a save for the Mustangs with about 7:00 left in the opening half, which, in turn, helped the Mustangs take a 2-0 lead when junior Quin Wells scored a goal on a header with 3:05 on the clock, giving the Mustangs a two-goal lead. 

When halftime arrived, the Mustangs had a 2-0 lead, but 34 seconds into the second half LC’s lead was abruptly cut in half, when the Indians scored their only goal — and the final goal of the match — at the 39:26 mark of the half with the ball sailing to the top right corner of the net. 

From that point on, the game play increased from a level 10 to off the charts as each team wasn’t giving an inch, and neither defense allowed any more goals to be scored. The officials got involved in the second half with two yellow cards handed to Valley within a couple minutes of each other with 31:35 and 30:16 on the scoreboard. 

Then the offense of the Indians almost tied the score when a shot they took bounced off the left pole of the goal with 26:20 remaining in regulation. The Indians’ offense continued to go after the offense of the Mustangs, but the LC defense stood their ground, even on a corner kick by Valley at the 21:40 mark of the second half. 

Again, on defense, the Mustangs made a stop, this one by senior Mason Fisher, and again with just over 15 minutes to play, the Indians were stopped by LCHS on another corner kick try. LCHS also had a yellow card go their direction with 11:23 left in the match, as the district final contest kept increasing in intensity. 

In one of the more memorable moments — and one that caused everyone in the stadium to collectively hold their breath — keeper Roberts went after the ball at goal, turned around, then using his athletic abilities, raced back into position and made the save at the 8:10 mark, keeping the Mustangs ahead at 2-1. Less than a minute later, the 6-5 junior keeper made a leaping save at the goal, again keeping the Mustangs in front. 

Again, the Indians were unlucky on goal attempts, with another shot ricocheting off the goal post (3:00 left in the match), then came a defensive stop by LCHS senior Sam Turner with the Mustangs 2:45 away from winning the district championship. 

Eventually, as the play level kept increasing, the Mustangs defended their goal and time ran out, putting the Mustangs back in front as district champions for the first time since 2020 (defeated St. Joseph), as they also won it the previous season in 2019 (defeated Wheelersburg).

“The whole team, we did what we were supposed to do, and the few aspects where we faltered, we were in the right positions to make up for our teammates, and that's tremendous, and that's what allows teams to move on,” West said.

The LCHS head coach also spoke about being district champions again and about how the Southern Hills Athletic Conference is making their mark in the SE District tournament this year. 

“This is very nice, and that's what I was telling the Fayetteville kids before their game (Fayetteville eventually won their district championship following the LC win),” West said. “I said, ‘You know, in our district, SHAC teams are traditionally left behind once we move into regionals, and it would mean a lot for our league to put a stamp on the Southeast District this year with two teams out of SHAC to make regionals.’ Fayetteville's had a great year, and there's no reason for those guys to stop today.”

Coach West also wanted to talk about all of his assistant coaches and how much they mean to the program.

“I've got two coaches that have my last name (Landon and Braedon West). They do so much for us, and it's just amazing,” he said. “It's awesome to watch them come back and the connectivity that they have to the kids. It means a lot because I'm of an age where I'm the grumpy old ‘get off my lawn’ guy, and I bring things down, and they're able to take my grumbling and translate it into language that is less demotivating and more motivating. 

“So it's awesome to have them, and then I've got Jeff Turner, who's the junior varsity coach, and my gosh, does he put in the time. He does such a great job for us. Then, all of our parents and fans, they do a spectacular job supporting us.”

Lynchburg-Clay will play their next match in the Division V Regional Semifinals (Region 20) on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at Herrnstein Field in Chillicothe against the Central District champions, the Milford Center Fairbanks Panthers (18-2), at 7 p.m. Fairbanks defeated Grove City Christian, 6-0 in their district final match. 

BOX SCORE
LCHS    2 0 — 2
VHS      0 1 — 1