LEXINGTON — Taylor Huff reached the top of the mountain Wednesday at Lexington High School.
Madison’s incomparable senior midfielder had four assists as the top-seeded Rams rolled to a 9-0 win over No. 6 Vermilion in the Division II district semifinals. The four assists gave Huff 88 in a sterling career, tying her with The Wellington School’s Tracie Abbott (1999-2002) atop the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s unofficial career assists list.
The University of Tennessee-bound Huff also scored a pair of goals, giving her 126 for her career. She ranks 19th on the career goals list.
So which means more?
“I’d rather have a state record for assists. It just means more to me because that means I’m distributing,” Huff said. “If you see a player who has all these goals but can’t assist, it doesn’t say much about the player. It says more about the player if they can do both. I’m proud of myself for that.”
Two of Huff’s assists went to freshman phenom Nevaeh Lewis, who had a hat trick in her first game since re-injuring her left ankle in a 2-0 win over Mentor Lake Catholic on Oct. 10. Lewis first injured the ankle in a 6-1 win over Lexington on Sept. 24.
“I feel good,” said Lewis, who has 14 goals on the season. “I was really nervous at first because I didn’t know how I would play or if they would take out my ankle. I just came in 100 percent and did my thing.”
Huff was glad to have Lewis back.
“You get people who can finish but they finish … not at a high percentage. Nevaeh really finishes well,” Huff said. “She can place the ball and she really knows how to do it. That’s a huge difference.”
The Rams (16-0-3) got off to a slow start against the Sailors (11-6-1). Madison had several scoring opportunities but struggled to get a shot past Vermilion goalkeeper Abi Rhoades.
“The first 20 minutes were horrible,” Madison coach Zac Huff said. “We sent the ball across and probably missed 15 shots in the first 20 minutes.”
Lewis got the Rams going with the first of her three goals off a Marisah Atterholt assist with 20:43 remaining in the first half. Kari Eckenwiler scored an unassisted goal just over two minutes later and Lilly Neal made it 3-0 off Huff’s first assist of the evening with 15:13 remaining in the half.
Huff and Lewis connected twice in the opening seven minutes of the second half to make it 5-0 before Huff scored off a Chesney Davis assist for a 6-0 lead with 26:40 remaining.
Huff’s record-tying assist came when she found Jennaca Tatum with 18:40 remaining for a 7-0 lead. Huff scored her second goal less than a minute later before taking a seat for the rest of the match.
Next up for Madison is a rematch with cross-county rival Ontario. The second-seeded Warriors blanked No. 3 Clear Fork 2-0 in Wednesday’s nightcap. Ontario and Madison battled to a 1-1 tie during the regular season.
“Come Saturday … when you have an opportunity you’re going to have to finish it,” Zac Huff said. “At the end of the day you have to come out and perform and finish the opportunities that you get.”
