MANSFIELD — As relentless as Mother Nature was Saturday afternoon, her downpour couldn’t hold water to the scoring deluge courtesy of Mansfield Christian.
The Flames, ranked second in Division III in the final Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association state poll, were brutally efficient in a 13-0 win over Tiffin Calvert in a Division III sectional championship game played in a driving rain storm at Mansfield Christian’s Comstock Field.
MCS (16-1) will play Bluffton in a district semifinal Tuesday at Tiffin Columbian. The Pirates beat Cory-Rawson 4-1 Saturday.
If Saturday’s performance was any indication, Bluffton had better be prepared for an MCS onslaught Tuesday evening. The Flames scored three goals in the opening two minutes and led 9-0 less than 16 minutes into the match against Calvert (2-11-2).
“We had four goals in the first three-and-a-half minutes without turning the ball over,” Mansfield Christian coach Jesse Rider said. “That was big for us. Our guys love playing and after a two-week layoff since our last game, they were just chomping to get out here.”
Sophomore Brandon Mount opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, taking a pass from fellow sophomore David Cochran and rifling a shot past Calvert keeper Anthony Traxler. Junior Brendan Ernsberger and Cochran followed with goals on assists from senior Josh Cochran and MCS led 3-0 in the match’s second minute.
“I think we came out hyped and ready to play,” Ernsberger said. “We played really well as a team. We played for each other and not for ourselves.”
Junior Ryan Smith got into the act with 36:52 remaining in the first half, scoring off a David Cochran assist. Josh Cochran scored off junior Chandran Higgins’ assist with 30:26 to go and David Cochran took a pass from Mount and found the back of the net 16 seconds later.
“Even though we had a long layoff, we have been going really hard in practice and doing a lot of conditioning,” Mount said. “We were attacking today and really pushing forward.”
Josh Cochran scored his second goal on a David Cochran assist with 27:01 to go. Ernsberger then scored two quick goals, one on an assist from Ryan Smith and the other on an assist from David Cochran, before Rider lifted his starters less than 16 minutes into the match.
“It was an important for us to come out and put the game away early,” David Cochran said. “We were really excited to get back out and play after the long layoff, but we didn’t let the excitement get in our way. We were able to put it behind us.”
Senior Jeff Vulgamore joined the scoring parade, beating Traxler off an assist from junior Keegan McQuate with 8:17 to go in the first half. Danny White scored an unassisted goal with 5:14 remaining to close out the first half scoring.
Mansfield Christian outshot Calvert 37-1 in the first half.
“Regardless of who we play, we have a certain standard of what we want to get to,” Rider said. “We wanted to limit the opportunities other teams get by keeping possession. We did that today by keeping the ball moving and eliminating mistakes.
“From this point forward, the more mistakes we make the harder it is to win a game.”
Mansfield Christian’s reserves played most of the second half. The starters made a cameo appearance midway through the period and were content with moving the ball and killing the clock. The only second-half scores came on an own-goal by Calvert and an unassisted Matthias Meiers goal with 4:17 remaining.
MCS attempted seven second-half shots compared to three for Calvert.
The Flames will have their hands full Tuesday. Bluffton is 12-4-1 and has outscored its opponents 61-26.
“We’ll have the talent to match up with anyone,” Rider said. “We’ll be able to play with anybody, but if we make mistakes that’s on us.”
Saturday was the first time all season MCS has played in inclement weather. The possibility of sloppy playing conditions increases deeper into the postseason.
“This really was the first bad-weather game we’ve played in,” Rider said. “It’s good for our guys to get used to the cold and rain. We’re likely to run into it again.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“I think we came out hyped and ready to play,” Junior Brendan Ernsberger said. “We played really well as a team. We played for each other and not for ourselves.”
