MANSFIELD — It has become one of the most intense rivalries in Richland County and another chapter will be penned Saturday afternoon at Lexington High School.
Madison and Ontario will meet in the Division II district championship match for a third straight year and if their regular season meeting is any indication, there should be no shortage of offensive fireworks.
Madison beat Ontario 4-2 earlier this month at Madison and neither team has lost since.
“They’re so athletic. They’re so fast and we’re just going to try to compete,” Ontario coach Larry Atkinson said after the Warriors dispatched Lexington 3-1 in the district semifinals Wednesday night. “I think we competed against them the first time other than we had a couple of mistakes.
“We possessed the ball pretty well (but) a couple minutes costed us a coupled of goals.”
Third-seeded Ontario (13-2-2) opened tournament play with a 10-0 win over Sandusky Perkins in the sectional finals before avenging a season-opening loss to Lex in the district semifinals. The Warriors trailed early but scored a pair of goals in the span of 54 seconds to take control before adding an insurance goal in the second half.
Meanwhile, Madison scored four goals in the first 32 minutes and cruised to a 4-0 win over Clear Fork in Wednesday’s early district semifinal match. Taylor Huff had a pair of goals and an assist in the win.
“It should be a dogfight,” Madison coach Zac Huff said. “It always is.”
A University of Tennessee recruit, Taylor Huff is one of the premier players in the state. The junior has 27 goals and 21 assists on the season. Phyllis Stanfield has 17 goals, while Kari Eckenwiler has 10 goals.
Ontario is led by freshman forward Kyla Spencer, who has 23 goals and 12 assists. Senior forward Alania Reed has 19 goals and 15 assists.
The Rams have outscored their three tournament opponents by a combined score of 24-0. Ontario has outscored its two tournament foes 13-1.
Saturday’s winner will play either Rocky River or Medina Buckeye in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a site to be determined. Rocky River and Buckeye meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at North Ridgeville High School.
“Whoever makes it out of our district has a chance to win a regional championship and play in the Final Four,” said Huff, who led Madison to the state semifinals in 2017.
Atkinson agreed.
“This is one of the best district around,” Atkinson said. “There are several great teams in this district and all but one of them will have to go home.
“Fortunately we advanced (to the district final). Hopefully we can compete and we’ll see what happens.”
