Badger boys soccer claims 12th straight league title

October 7, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Badger claims 12th straight league title

KINSMAN

The Badger Braves realize there’s a target on their backs each time they step on the field.

That target wasn’t enough to stop them from winning another Northeast Athletic Conference boys soccer championship.

Joe Gorospe scored twice, Dominic Welch, Travis Hecker and Braden Elsea also scored and George Kirby was flawless in goal as the Braves stopped the Lordstown Red Devils, 5-0 Monday at the Braves’ soccer complex.

It was the 12 consecutive title for the Braves and the second in as many seasons for head coach Justin Deraway, whose team improved to 6-0 at home and swept the season series with their NAC rivals.

They had defeated Lordstown, 2-1, on Sept. 15.

“In our first game with the Red Devils they were able to get us out of what we normally do, but today we spread the field and were able to finish our plays,” Deraway said. “Our goal each year is to win the league and with a target on our back, teams are getting closer. When you have only one scorer you are easy to stop, but when you look at our statistics you will notice that everyone has scored this season. Today, we were able to spread that scoring around.”

It took just 33 seconds in a steady downpour, but Gorospe’s first score of the game staked the Braves (14-1-0, 13-0) to the early goal advantage.

“Our passes just weren’t coming together the last time we played each other, so we worked extra hard in practice the past week or so and today that effort paid off,” Gorospe said. “It’s really great to win the league title again, but the message remains that there’s still a target on our backs heading into tournament play.”

Badger will head into next week’s Division III, Kent district tournament as the No. 1 seed while the Red Devils are the No. 3 seed.

If the two teams continue to win in tournament play, they would meet for a third time in the district final on Oct. 25.

Badger stretched the lead to 2-0 on Dominic Welch’s 15th goal of the campaign at 19:04 and Travis Hecker followed with his fifth tally at 2:45.

Kirby, who rejected seven Red Devils shots in recording his eighth shutout, gave his defense a much-deserved assist.

“Our defense came up big today so credit them for a great game as well. We’ve practiced defense quite a bit over the past few weeks and today we executed perfectly,” Kirby added.

Braden Elsea’s 11th goal at 33:08 gave Badger a 4-0 lead with Gorospe’s second goal of the game and 25th overall at 28:25 rounding out the scoring.

“Justin [Deraway] made some good adjustments, taking away our strengths and we just weren’t prepared today with the adjustments that were made,” Lordstown coach Tim Malone said. “Take nothing away from Badger because they did a nice job defending, but I think the weather affected us more than it did them.”

The win was the 13th consecutive for Badger as it has outscored opponents by a 90-9 count.

Lordstown (11-2-2, 11-2-1) saw its six-game win streak fall by the wayside while the five goals allowed was a season-high for the Red Devils.