Mineral Ridge wins Division III district title

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TJ Gaydosh

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Garrett Smith

By ERIC FORTUNE

sports@vindy.com

GIRARD

Under gray skies and a constant drizzle, Mineral Ridge — in just its fourth year of soccer — overcame an injury to All-Ohio midfielder TJ Gaydosh to beat Crestwood 2-1 in a Division III boys soccer district final Saturday.

“We made it to the district final last year and came up a little short,” Mineral Ridge coach Ted Gaydosh said. “They’ve achieved so much in a short amount of time. I’m very proud of them.”

Despite the Red Devils (11-8) getting eight shots on goal in the first half, keeper Jacob Carfolo was able to keep Crestwood at bay at Arrowhead Stadium.

The converted baseball player was in the right spot at the right time for most of the game.

“He just started playing soccer last year for the first time,” Ted Gaydosh said. “He came in and won the starting position. He soaks up everything like a sponge. His eye-hand coordination is amazing.”

Garrett Smith scored off an assist from TJ Gaydosh to put the Rams (16-2) ahead with 17:57 left in the first half.

The excitement was tempered shortly after.

“When I saw him take the touch and that he was going to play it forward, I started making a run,” TJ Gaydosh said. “When he kicked it, I thought the goalie was going to get there. I think he thought so too, but I saw him hesitate.

“Thankfully, I was able to get there before him. Once I kicked it past him, I was like, ‘Yes!’ I saw it went in. I was celebrating. I went back to celebrate with my teammates. After all that ended, I went to take a step and I promptly fell over.”

Gaydosh exited the game and did not return. His injury was reported as just a strain.

“Hopefully he’ll be good to go for the next game,” Ted Gaydosh said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

For the remainder of the first half Ted Gaydosh felt his team got conservative. The Rams stopped attacking the ball and shied away from pressuring Crestwood through the middle of the field.

“We were allowing them to switch the field of play and drop the ball in the backline. You can’t play to not lose,” Ted Gaydosh said. “We’ve never been a program to build anything around one player. Yes, TJ is a captain. He’s a valuable player, but he’s not the end all be all of our team.”

Crestwood tied the game up on Isaiah Patton’s goal at the 34:50 mark of the second half.

The game stayed tied over the next 14 minutes when a penalty on Crestwood set up Mineral Ridge for a free kick.

Smith took the free kick and by the time Crestwood coach Scot Etling saw the setup it was too late. Crestwood was too far over and Smith was able to push it through the defense to give the Rams a 2-1 lead.

“My team trusted me,” Smith said. “They gave me the opportunity. I felt like I needed to do it. I needed to step up and put it in the net and help us win this game.”

Mineral Ridge will play Campbell in a regional semifinal Wednesday at Bo Rein Stadium in Niles. The game will start at 7 p.m.