South Range tops Crestview in district semifinal

October 28, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

South Range clinches third straight

appearance in D-III district final

By STEVE WILAJ

NORTH LIMA

Just when Crestview looked like it might be able to sneak into halftime with the game still scoreless Tuesday night, South Range put the contest out of reach.

Sparked by two late first-half goals, the Raiders defeated the Rebels, 3-1, in a Division III district semifinal at South Range. They will try to win a third straight district final at 1 p.m. Saturday when they matchup with Lake Center Christian at the YSU Soccer Complex. Lake Center defeated St. Thomas Aquinas, 1-0, on Tuesday in a shootout.

“I kind of think they were tired and thinking the half was over and they survived it and whatnot,” said Raiders senior Landon Baer, who finished with two goals. “But I think we just kept going and were motivated to score at least one goal before the half.”

South Range (14-3) did that and more.

Baer scored the first goal on a header with just 5:20 remaining in the firsthalf. Moments later, Brandon Youngs’ goal at the 17th minute put the Raiders ahead, 2-0, at the break.

“All week we talked about, ‘In the playoffs we’re not gonna give away corner kicks or free kicks,’ ” Crestview coach Jonathan Kinkead said. “We wanted to limit those opportunities — and we came out in the first half and gave 14 of them away. When you give that many away, something’s bound to go in. You can only bend so much before it breaks and in that end of the first half, we broke.”

In the 59th minute, Crestview (12-3-3) cut the Raiders lead to one when Jeffery Roberts found the back of the net. However, with just 8:14 remaining in the contest, South Range iced the game when Baer scored a put-back goal off a deflection to boost the Raiders’ lead back to two.

“It was so big. It was the dagger,” Baer said. “It just kind of popped out of the top of the box and I put it away.”

The deflection bounced off Crestview goalie Scott Murray, who finished with six saves. It was just one instance of misfortune for the Rebels, who also had two shots deflect off the crossbar.

“We felt that if we played our A game and they played maybe their B-plus game, we’d be able to compete and take it to them,” Kinkead said. “We had some bad luck for sure. A couple calls that could have went either way. But that’s any sport, really. Nothing’s perfect and you can’t make excuses. South Range earns it.”

Brant Rothbauer finished with four saves in the net for the Raiders.

Last year, South Range defeated Ursuline in the district final. The Raiders downed Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas in 2013.

“Getting ready for Crestview, we never take them lightly. They always bring a good, tough physical game,” said South Range coach Joe Staffeld, whose team beat Crestview for the third time this season. “I knew it would be tough to beat the same team three times, so the kids worked hard and it’s time to get ready for Saturday.”

Added Baer: “The experience we have with it is good going in. I’m really excited.”