BELLVILLE — A pair of Richland County heavyweights will duke it out for the district title and if Thursday’s bout is anything like their last postseason meeting, it’s going to be a slugfest.
State-ranked Lexington (15-3-0) and Ontario (11-4-3) will meet for the second time this year at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Colt Corral. The match was originally scheduled to be played at Clyde High School but was moved to Clear Fork.
The last time the Minutemen and Warriors met in the postseason was 2017. Ontario’s Andrew Male scored on a penalty kick early in overtime at Mansfield Senior’s Arlin Field, lifting the Warriors to a 2-1 victory and the first district title in program history.
Since then, Lex has won back-to-back district crowns and reached the Division II Final Four last fall.
Lexington earned the top seed in this year’s district field and looked the part Monday at Clyde. All-American Ryan Parker scored three goals and had two assists as the Minutemen roughed up Vermilion 6-0.
“Right now we’re playing very well. We’re playing some of our best soccer,” Parker said. “At the beginning of the season we knew we had the talent to do special things. It was just coming together as a team.
“We’ve been building together so much as a team. It’s truly something special.”
No. 2 seed Ontario had a much stiffer challenge against fourth-seeded Norwalk in Monday’s late game at Clyde. Gage Weaver scored the second of his two goals with just 17 seconds remaining in regulation for a 3-2 win.
“Our coach tells us to pick each other up,” Weaver said. “I tried to be a leader out there. We picked our heads up and started going hard.”
Lexington and Ontario met in the season opener in August with Parker scoring a pair of goals in a 3-1 win.
“Lex is a great team,” Weaver said. “We’ll have to be on our best game.”
Ontario coach Chris McClenathan agreed.
“Lex is a great team. They’re a juggernaut,” McClenathan said. “They’ve got some great players. We’re going to go back and watch some film and come out and give them our best.”
Lex coach Peter Them knows what awaits his Minutemen on Thursday.
“They have some things up front that can be dangerous. Defensively they’re pretty sound as well,” Them said. “I think it will be a good game regardless. You can’t get to the district final and just expect to roll.
“We’ve got to stay mentally prepared and engaged.”
