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Better late than never: Behner’s goal lifts Devils
By Greg Gulas
LORDSTOWN
Garrett Behner’s goal off of Dominic D’Amico’s corner kick with 36 seconds remaining gave Lordstown a 1-0 win over Garrettsville Garfield in a Division III boys soccer district semifinal Tuesday.
The top-seeded Red Devils (16-1-1) will meet third-seeded Rootstown in a district final at 3 p.m. Saturday at Girard’s Arrowhead Stadium. The Rovers beat the Rockets 2-1 on Tuesday.
“I was just trying to go to the ball and score with the game on the line,” Behner said. “The first half, our central midfielders played more defensive-minded. We then moved our one central midfielder, Michon Peterson, to the outside and moved me in the middle. We normally work well together so we tried to combine as many plays as possible to make sure that we stayed up.”
Lordstown will be making its second trip to the district finals and first since 2013 under head coach Tim Malone (65-19-7 overall), currently in his fifth season at the helm.
The past two seasons the Red Devils were denied a finals appearance by Warren JFK.
While the G-Men (11-6-2) played a considerable portion of the first half on the Red Devils’ side of the field, flip-flopping sides in the second half seemed to work to Lordstown’s advantage offensively.
“This was was the best game that we played all year. We switched sides after struggling in the first half. We played the ball back into pressure every time,” Malone said. “I had to change up the game plan a lot in the second half, especially late in the game. Garrett was my leading scorer the last two years and I lost my entire starting midfield and two center backs from last season.
“It was a big rebuilding year and Garrett filled that void there with his leadership. What I did with him today gave him his fifth game-winner coming out of the backfield this year. I have the ultimate confidence in the world that he can score. He’s got confidence in me — I’ve got confidence in him.”
Garfield had two free-kick opportunities in the opening session, the first coming at 32:11 and the other at 13:08 with both kicks off the foot of Zach Gorby failing to register.
A Behner free kick at 30:06 of the second half also failed to register as the game remained scoreless heading to the 79th minute of play. That’s when D’Amico finally converted one of his corner kicks with time winding down.
“We practice every set play and I just try to put it right in the middle because Garrett will always be there,” D’Amico said. “With no subs and a small team, it’s pretty hard every game, but we’ve managed. We’re a well-conditioned group.”
Both teams had seven shots on goal with Lordstown goalie Collin Himes registering his fourth shutout.
“In the first half, I had to come out more than I usually do because they play real long, so I had to risk it several times tonight,” Himes said. “It’s just an exciting feeling to get back to the district finals.”
Garfield coach Mike Coney said his team was ready overtime.
“I thought that we came out, played really well and I thought we outplayed them through the midfield,” Coney noted. “They did a good job of taking away some of our attacking players like Zach [Gorby] and Louis [Nonte]. On that play they won a corner kick and our defender did the right thing because Behner is a very dangerous player. It was a good corner and a great goal. It just took a bad bounce for us.”