BELLVILLE — He’s listed at 6-foot-4 and Griffin Robinette needed every inch to help Clear Fork dodge a bullet.
The rangy Robinette headed in the game-winning goal off a corner kick with 2:54 remaining as the second-seeded Colts held off No. 9 seed Ontario 3-2 in the opening round of the Division II sectional tournament Monday at the Colt Corral.
Clear Fork (11-4-2) will host No. 5 seed Port Clinton at 7 p.m. Thursday as part of a doubleheader. The Clear Fork girls team will host either Edison or Sandusky at 5 p.m.
The upset-minded Warriors (5-11-1) scored the equalizer on freshman Andrew Male’s penalty kick with 10:14 remaining. The Colts turned up the heat but couldn’t get anything past Ontario goal keeper Rohan Joshi.
Enter Robinette.
The senior timed his leap perfectly to meet the well-placed corner kick and give the Colts the lead for good.
“I’m taller than everyone else, so I just run and jump in there and hope I get a head on it,” said Robinette, a defender who scored just his second goal all season. “It was a good time for it.”
Clear Fork coach Brian Kinnard agreed.
“It’s a luxury to have a 6-4 kid up there on those set pieces,” Kinnard said. “We’d love to find him more. He’ll score as many goals as we can put up near his head. It’s something we’d like to do more of.”
Air Colts: All three of Clear Fork’s goals came on headers. David McKinley broke the ice when he found the back of the net with 19:42 remaining in the first half off a long throw in. Michael Shupe headed in a goal with 3:58 left in the first half off a Matt South assist.
“It wasn’t intentional,” Kinnard said. “We weren’t trying to do that but we will take them any way we can get them.”
Milestone victory: The win was the 100th in Kinnard’s coaching career.
“It’s special. A lot of these guys have had a hand in a lot of wins,” Kinnard said. “We’ve enjoyed a lot of success the past few years.”
Kinnard is in his ninth season at Clear Fork.
“It doesn’t seem that long,” he said. “If you ask my wife, she might say otherwise.”
Marked Man: Shelby, a standout basketball player and a state placer in the 110 hurdles, drew plenty of attention from the the Clear Fork defense Monday night. He scored Ontario’s first goal with 5:16 remaining in the first half, drew a foul to set up Ontario’s second goal and had a handful of other scoring opportunities.
“Ben Sprang was man-marking him the whole game,” Robinette said. “I thought we did a pretty good job, but he still created opportunities.”
What’s more, Shelby is a relative newcomer to soccer.
“It’s just his second year playing at the high school level,” Ontario coach Chris McClenathan said. “Teams have to game plan for him. In most of our games there are two or three defenders surrounding him.
“He has become a soccer player.”
Shelby nearly had a second goal in the second half. His shot went just wide, much to Kinnard’s relief.
“He’s very fast and they like to find him direct,” Kinnard said. “He’s got a nice first touch, which allows him to go forwards. He had some dangerous opportunities tonight.”
Upstart Ontario: The Warriors didn’t play like a five-win team.
Ontario’s roster is dominated by underclassmen. There are only four seniors on the roster, yet the Warriors gave themselves a chance to upset senior-laden Clear Fork.
“We’ve got seven freshmen and sophomores who start,” McClenathan said. “We’ve got a lot of talent coming back and a lot of heart coming back.
“I think we made a statement tonight.”
Kinnard knew his Colts would have their hands full.
“They played like a team that had nothing to lose,” he said. “A team like that is dangerous, especially this time of year.”
