BELLVILLE — Before Mansfield Christian’s postgame huddle broke up Thursday evening, senior Brendan Ernsberger had something to say to his teammates.
His message won’t soon be forgotten.
“In my three years so far I’ve played in three regional championship games, been to two Final Fours (2011, 2013) and played in the state championship game last year and I’ve never been a part of a comeback like that,” Ernsberger said. “I’ve never been more proud of our boys.”
Ernsberger scored a second time and junior David Cochran also scored a pair of goals as the Flames erased a 3-1 halftime deficit for a 4-3 win at Clear Fork.
Mansfield Christian, last year’s Division III state runner-up, improved to 3-0-1. Clear Fork dipped to 4-1-1.
“It’s tough to come back from two goals down, especially against a team as good as Clear Fork” first-year MCS coach Stephen Armstrong said. “At halftime I lit a fire underneath them and they responded.”
Ernsberger, who scored the Flames’ first-half goal, started the comeback with a goal with 32:55 remaining in the second half to cut Clear Fork’s lead to 3-2.
“We tried to make (Ernsberger’s) life a little more challenging, but he hit a heck of a shot,” Clear Fork coach Brian Kinnard said. “That goal was fantastic.”
Cochran scored the equalizer with 17:02 remaining and knocked in the game-winner with 9:17 to play.
“We dug ourselves quite the hole in the first half,” Cochran said. “For the last two-thirds of the second half, we started settling down and playing our game.”
Style Points: The Flames couldn’t match Clear Fork’s athleticism, but Mansfield Christian gave the Colts fits with their trademark ball possession game, especially in the second half.
“We didn’t play our style in the first half,” Cochran said. “Once you get away from the things you do well, especially against a bigger and more physical team, you can get into trouble.
“They are so fast, but if you possess you can wear them down. Nobody can keep up that level of intensity for an entire game and physical fatigue eventually leads to mental fatigue.”
Defensive breakdowns doomed the Colts, Kinnard said.
“We just needed to do a better job of being organized defensively,” Kinnard said. “When we stop talking, that allowed them to have great opportunities. I’m not pleased with those lapses.”
The Flames have also changed formations from a year ago. MCS had a three-man back last fall.
“We change back and forth between a few different formations, but we want to play the same style of soccer,” Armstrong said. “We went to four in the back this year. It’s just a tactical thing with our personnel. We play very well like that and that’s how we will play going forward.”
Bull’s-eye: Mansfield Christian’s jerseys might as well have a target printed on the back. The state-ranked Flames — MCS was seventh in Division III in the first Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association state poll — take everyone’s best shot.
“We know every game we go into, we’re probably the biggest game on (the opposing team’s) schedule,” Ernsberger said. “There is some pressure, but we accept it.”
Celebration?: After each of Cochran’s goals, the junior celebrated by leaping into the air and kicking the corner flags.
So what was the genesis of the unorthodox celebration?
“We had a long training run in practice Wednesday and we ran past a youth soccer field and we were all kicking the flags,” Cochran said. “I told the guys, ‘If I score a goal tomorrow I think I’m going to try that.’ So that’s how it came about.”
Apples and Oranges: Coaches don’t like to compare one team to another, especially when one of those teams was state runner-up, but Armstrong sees some similarities between the 2014 Flames and last year’s team.
“We want to keep as many things as consistent as possible from last year,” Armstrong said. “We’ve had a great deal of success here, so we don’t want make a lot of changes.”
Continuity is key, Ernsberger said.
“We have a lot of guys back from last year and even our younger came to all of our games and watched us before they got to high school, so they know what to expect,” he said. “We have different personnel, but it’s the same philosophy.”
