Lordstown heading to district final
LORDSTOWN — Lordstown boys soccer coach Tim Malone said an unsung hero steps up for his team every game.
On Tuesday afternoon, a familiar face stepped up once again.
Garrett Behner, a senior co-captain, knocked in a header with 36 seconds left in regulation to beat Garfield, 1-0, in a Division III Kent District semifinal game at Lordstown High School.
“(This) is (Garrett’s) fifth game-winner coming out of the backfield this year,” Malone said. “Garrett was my leading scorer for the last two years, (and) we lost six starters last year. I lost my whole center midfield and my two centerbacks, so Garrett solidified that unselfishly and went back there and covered that.”
In the first half, Garfield was the team with all of the momentum. It had two free kicks from just outside of the box, and generally kept the ball on Lordstown’s side of the field in the first half.
However, the Red Devils were able to outshoot the G-Men, 3-1, in shots-on-goal in the first half, as Garfield did not convert any free kick opportunities. By the second half, both sides were visibly exhausted and Lordstown began to control the tempo.
“We switched sides (after halftime), (because) we struggled with playing the ball back into pressure everytime, that was a mistake on our part,” Malone said. “I had to change the gameplan a lot (in second half).”
Finally, as time began ticking down, Lordstown found itself closer and closer to a score, as they had a number of shot attempts in the final minutes. With less than a minute remaining, Dominic D’Amico earned a corner kick. He hooked to a leaping Behner, who knocked the ball in off of his head for the game-winner.
For No. 5-seeded Garfield (11-6-2), it’s just their second loss in the last 14 games, following a 1-4 start to the season. A visibly emotional Mike Coney, the G-Men’s eighth-year coach, said that this is the most proud that’s he’s ever been of one of his teams.
“We’re a young team, we only have one returning senior from last year. They’re young and the improvement was incredible (this year),” Coney said. The boys worked hard in the summer and then it finally started clicking (defensively). This has been the most difficult (season) in some ways, but the most rewarding I’ve ever had.”
The Red Devils (16-1-1) face Rootstown, which beat Maplewood in the other district semifinal, Saturday at 3 p.m., at Girard’s Arrowhead Stadium in the district title game. This is the second time in Malone’s five years that a Red Devil team has made it to the district championship game, as he’s led them to a 65-19-7 record in that time frame.
While Lordstown came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed, they’ve had to battle constant adversity, as they’ve been plagued by injuries and a lack of depth all year. In fact, Malone said he’s been forced to play the same nine guys for all 80 minutes over the last five contests.
“Every game, we have a different hero or person (step up), that’s what I preach to everybody,” Malone explained. “Everybody fills an important role and that’s why we’re successful.”
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