Soccer: Mason goes OT to oust Centerville, 1-0

Members of the Centerville High School boys soccer team dropped to the turf at Bellbrook High School as Mason swarmed Joseph Grimes in the darkness of the corner flag on the far side of the field.

Grimes had just flicked a header into the top corner with 1:40 left in overtime to give the state’s third-ranked team a 1-0 win Thursday night in the Division I boys soccer district finals.

“They just caught us in transition,” Centerville coach Jeff Monbeck said after his squad finished 10-6-4. “To our credit, we fought through overtime. It was a quick, abrupt end and I’d rather we moved on, but our kids gave us their best effort.”

The goal came after Centerville keeper Andrw Sucato had made a pair of leaping punch saves in overtime as part of a six-save night.

Centerville had opportunities in overtime, but much like regulation could not get a clean look at the goal.

“I thought we played great soccer and were able to put them under some pressure,” Monbeck said. “We put them under fire. Unfortunately things didn’t go our way.”

The Elks appeared to have jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Austin Rojas got behind the Mason defense and volleyed a shot to the top of the net with 1:45 off the clock.

The goal, however, was nullified by an offside call, and the Elks could manage only Matthew Scarpino’s shot with 33:43 remaining the rest of the half.

“We saw the flag up right away,” Mason coach Paul Reedy said. “What concerned us was the way they were able to possess the ball and string passes through our midfield, but then we started adjusting a little bit.”

The Comets out-shot the Elks 3-1 in the first half. Sucato came up with two punch saves in a two-minute span to keep the Comets off the board.

Mason had defeated Centerville 2-0 on Sept. 3 at Mason.

“We put ourselves in this position by playing a challenging schedule,” Monbeck said. “When it comes to the tournament, you have to give it all you got and our kids did that.”

Alter 3, New Richmond 0: Dominic Ruffolo knocked in all three goals in leading Alter to a D-II district title. Scott Beinlich, Croft Hagerty and Jakob Tremblay had assists. It marked the 350th career win for coach Bob Ellis.

Beavercreek 2, Cin. St. Xavier 0: Ryan Bernt put Creek on the board and Evan DeWine added an insurance goal to send the Beavers to a D-I regional semifinal matchup with Mason.

Indian Hill 5, Kenton Ridge 0: Indian Hill pulled ahead 2-0 in the first half and piled on three more scores in the second in this D-II district final.

Springboro 2, La Salle 1, 2OT: Springboro's Garrett Ashdown had a game-tying goal with four minutes to play and Cole Hamilton netted the game-winner to give the Panthers a win in this D-I district final.

Tippecanoe 1, Wyoming 0, OT: Caiden Smith's goal was the difference in this D-II district final.

Troy Christian 2, Cin. Country Day 0: Troy Christian advanced to the D-III regional semifinals with the win.

Yellow Springs 1, Dayton Christian 0: Joe Plumer scored the lone goal in this D-III district final.

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