LINESVILLE —
Being a Class AA squad in a Class A region, the Conneaut boys soccer team is well aware that it’s going to have to finish the season strong if it wants to be considered for a playoff spot in a couple weeks.
And Wednesday against Commodore Perry, it was easy to see the urgency in the Eagles’ effort as they routed the Panthers 5-1 during a Region 1 matchup at Conneaut Area Senior High School.
“Yeah, we’re trying to get to the playoffs,” said Eagles forward Richard Moore. “It’s my senior year. I haven’t made it yet. ... And this was probably one of our better games. Everyone’s adrenaline is rushing. We’re right there.”
With yesterday’s win, Conneaut is now 9-5-2 on the season and 6-3-1 against Region 1 opponents. The Eagles have two matches left, both against non-region teams — today they host Meadville and on Saturday they travel to Hickory.
Should Conneaut win out, the team will have 11 wins. But the Eagles have to stack that up against a pretty crowded Class AA field, which includes Harbor Creek, General McLane, Wilmington, Franklin, Warren and Saegertown, each of which have double-digit wins on the year.
“We have some good wins this year,” said Conneaut coach Alan Wise. “We beat Saegertown. We beat Kennedy Catholic. And if we can beat Meadville (today) we’ll have beat them twice, a triple-A team. So, I hope our case holds up for the playoffs.
“But we’ve still got to do our job. We’ve got to win (today) and Saturday in Hickory.”
The Eagles wasted precious little time getting down to business yesterday against Perry (6-10, 4-7 Region 1). Just 53 seconds into the match, the Eagles had the Panthers’ net surrounded. Panthers goalie Trent McErlane deflected a shot by Conneaut’s Tyler Bone, but the rebound went right to Ethan Mona, who tapped it across the goal line.
Bone got his turn about 17 minutes later. Brandon Jackson forwarded a pass to Bone, who was all alone near the right sideline. Bone angled in and had a one-on-one with McErlane, whom he then stutter-stepped around and toed the ball into the net to push Conneaut’s lead to 2-0.
The Eagles added to that lead with around seven minutes remaining in the first half. Moore got behind the defense on a deep forwarding pass. McErlane stepped out to intercept it. Both players battled for the ball.
It squeaked free and both dived for it — McErlane with his hands, Moore with his cleats. Moore managed to kick the ball out of McErlane’s grip and it rolled to Tanner Houck, who was all alone near the right side of a wide-open goal. He buried it.
“Not to be selfish, but I was trying to go for my goal,” said Moore. “But I ended up kicking (the ball) off their goalie’s hands and then Tanner Houck went and put it in.”
Moore would eventually get a tally of his own halfway through the second period. He was well to the side of the goal when he batted a bouncing pass out of the air in front of him with the side of his foot, and that shot curled around McErlane and ripped the twine. Tanner Dittrich had the assist.
“Richard had a nice blast,” said Wise. “It was like, ‘Where did that come from?’”
Perry came up with its only goal about nine minutes later on a score by Seth Jaussen. But Conneaut pushed it back to a four-goal lead with 4:49 to play, when Dittrich, getting a nice forward feed from Kyle Ledford, beat McErlane on a one-on-one.
“I’m happy for the boys,” said Wise. “We made a couple formation changes this week and I think it’s helped. It definitely helped in the Kennedy game (on Monday) and it helped (Wednesday).
“So, we’re waiting for the big game (today) against Meadville. That’s a big rivalry. You might as well take the records and throw them out the window for those two teams. ... I think every game we played them the last four years has been a one-goal game.”
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