LEXINGTON — Dylan George and his Lexington teammates flipped the script on Wooster.
A senior forward, George scored a pair of goals and the Minutemen avenged last year’s loss to the Generals with a 3-1 win in the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship game Tuesday at Lexington.
Lex (9-2-1, 6-0-1) won its ninth OCC title after Wooster (9-5-1, 6-1-0) captured the crown last fall. The Generals beat the Minutemen 3-1 last year.
“It was certainly a motivator,” George said of last year’s loss. “We just wanted to go out there and get revenge and we got the same score line.”
George gave the Minutemen a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute when he redirected a Cohen Lautzenhiser crossing pass and flicked it past Wooster keeper Carter Buchholz.
“Fortunately the defender missed and I was just right there to tap it in,” George said.
Lex extended the lead to 2-0 13 minutes later when Jack Hiebel collected a rebound on a Will Perkins shot and tucked it in the back of the net.
“We talked about it all week. We knew what we were coming in to,” Lexington coach Peter Them said. “We knew how good Wooster was. I think three of their four losses were to ranked teams.
“To come out 2-0 the way we did … kudos to the boys.”
Wooster made things interesting when Nicholas Morse scored on a rebound with 15:21 remaining in the second half. The momentum was short-lived, however, as George scored his second goal with 7:21 left, outrunning a Wooster defender on a goal kick by Nolan Steward.
“Every time Nolan loads up and launches it I just make it awkward for the defender and sprint,” George said. “Fortunately it was awkward enough and I was able to score.”
George scored a similar goal in Lexington’s 2-1 loss at Bay on Saturday.
“He’s deceptive,” Them said of George. “That kid, once his legs get moving, you just don’t know.
“He uses his body very well and put himself in a great position.”
Wooster turned up the heat for the final seven-plus minutes, but Steward was up to the task. The senior made several nice saves in the closing minutes.
“It means a lot. We’ve worked really hard all season,” said Steward, one of 13 seniors on Lexington’s roster. “This group of guys has been together for a very long time. We’ve played rec since 6 year old. There’s a lot of chemistry here and a lot of brotherhood here.”
Lexington, which was ranked eighth in Division II in this week’s Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association state poll, has three non-conference games remaining in the regular season.
The Minutemn host Toledo St. John’s on Saturday and close the season with games at Bowling Green and at home against Hilliard Davidson next week.
“The last two weeks of the season are absolutely loaded with big teams, Wooster included,” Them said. “It feels good to take care of that one.”
“The biggest thing for us is staying healthy. We want to keep playing good soccer and doing what we do.”
In the meantime, Lex will enjoy Tuesday’s win a couple of extra days.
“It feels great,” George said of winning the OCC title. “It’s just goal No. 1 off the list and we’ll keep going.”