MANSFIELD — They met less than a month ago to determine the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship.
Thursday at Malabar, top-seeded Lexington and No. 2 Madison will renew hostilities once more and this time a Division II district crown will be on the line.
“When we saw the bracket, we thought this could be a possibility,” Lexington coach Peter Them said. “With both Madison and Ontario on the opposite side of the bracket, we felt if we were able to reach the district championship game, it would probably be one of those two teams waiting on us.”
Both Lex (18-1) and Madison (14-3-2) have been overwhelming throughout the tournament. The Minutemen have outscored their three tournament opponents by a combined score of 29-0. The Rams have outscored their three tournament foes 20-2.
Madison advanced with a 2-1 win over No. 3 seed Ontario in the district semifinals. James Wagner scored a goal early and Corbin Herr scored on a penalty kick, all within the first 10 minutes of the match.
“I didn’t think that we’d get on the board that early,” Madison coach Tim Lord said. “It was nice to do that but sometimes … I’ve seen a lot of games where you get up early and then the other team wakes up and then you’re on your heels a little bit.
“Ontario, to their (credit), did a great job and got one before half and had us on our heels in the second half.”
Meanwhile, Lexington dispatched Edison 8-0 at Clyde to reach the district final for the sixth straight season. The Minutemen won the district title last fall.
“We talked to the boys afterward and said last night wasn’t our best despite the score,” Them said. “Our focus is to continue to get better every day.”
Lexington won the regular season meeting 3-1, sending Madison to its only OCC loss. The Minutemen won the conference title outright.
“Lexington has had a great year,” Lord said. “We look to play them tough. We played them fairly tough in the regular season.
“At the district level, it’s anyone’s game and our guys are going to play them like that.”
Them wouldn’t expect anything less.
“When we played them in the regular season both teams played extremely hard, which is what you expect in a rivalry game,” Them said. “What struck with me was the speed of play from both sides. It was so fast and I expect more of the same Thursday.”
