3-peat: Madison holds off Ontario for district title

LEXINGTON — Mother Nature may have made a mess of things, but she couldn’t slow down Madison’s Taylor Huff and the offensive-minded Rams.

Huff had two goals and assisted on another and Chesney Davis added a pair of goals as the Rams sloshed to a 4-3 win over Ontario in the Division II district championship match Saturday on a soggy pitch at Lexington.

The game was played in a driving rain storm and, as conditions deteriorated, footing became more and more treacherous. The slippery track didn’t seem to bother Huff, the University of Tennessee recruit, or Davis — who came in with just three goals on the season.

“Both teams are playing in it so we just had to realize that they’re playing against it, too,” said Huff who has a team-high 29 goals and 21 assists. “We’ve just got to look past it and do the best we can.”

Huff spotted the Rams (15-1-4) to a quick 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal in the fifth minute. But the Warriors (13-4-2) responded almost immediately when Ava Ruhe collected a rebound and tucked it in the back of the net with 31:43 remaining in the first half.

The game would remain deadlocked until Ontario’s Mere Bise collected a rebound off a direct kick and gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead with 7:52 to play in the half.

The Rams answered with a pair of goals in a span of just over a minute to take a 3-2 lead. Huff headed in a Paige Eldridge pass to tie the score at 2-2 with 3:03 to play in the half before Davis scored on a Huff cross with 1:47 showing on the clock for a 3-2 Madison lead.

“We got a lead and then, as coaches, I think we made a mistake,” Ontario coach Larry Atkinson said. “We made a couple of mistakes and gave them two goals right there. We go from up one to down one.”

Madison led 3-2 at the half and extended the lead to 4-2 when Davis got free along the right side and sent a bending shot past a diving Ontario keeper with 29:43 remaining in the game.

“I beat the player and took it in,” Davis said. “I crossed it, but it just kind of curved in.”

Ontario freshman Adi Turnbaugh scored on a penalty kick with 2:20 left to cut Madison’s lead to 4-3. The Warriors had a couple of opportunities in the final minutes, but couldn’t score the equalizer, sending Madison to its third straight district title.

“Another five minutes and they might have put another one in. They had us on our heels at the end,” Madison coach Zac Huff said. “It was a dogfight, just like I figured it would be.”

Madison will play Rocky River in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a site to be determined. Rocky River beat Medina Buckeye 2-1 in the Elyria district championship game.

“It’s awesome,” Taylor Huff said of claiming a third straight district crown. “This year was the hardest for us to win again because after winning it two years in a row, we came in with a huge ‘X’ on our back. Everyone was gunning for us.

“I am so proud of us all.”