¯ South Range, Cardinal Mooney (first in 2002) and Canfield are the only Mahoning County schools to reach the state tournament. ¯ Kirtland made it to the state semifinals in 2018. The Green Bears won a title in 2008 and were second in 2017.

¯ This is Ottawa Hills’ sixth state tournament appearance. That game was played at Mansfield High School. ¯Ottawa Hills lost to Cardinal Mooney in the state semifinals last season. Novak’s converted a penalty kick four minutes into the second half and then fought through the Hornet defense for his third goal with 17 minutes left in the game.Ĭolt Crane assisted on Novak’s first goal. “We thought it was going to be another Mooney game and Kirtland put up a good battle but we just had our ‘A’ game,” Campbell said. Once Ryan Emch headed home a shot with 13 minutes left in the first half, it seemed like the Rebels had the date with destiny. The Rebels seemed to believe the regional final was going to resemble the physicial back-and-forth that was the Mooney district final game. “We always try to score first and once we score first we get that big tension lifted off our shoulders.” “It gives you that little bit of a cushion,” Campbell said. “They played a tight game and kept minimal shots on goal.”Ĭampbell said the big first goal set the agenda for the entire team. “I have to give credit to the defense,” Campbell said. The senior recorded 12 saves and had his defense’s back all afternoon.

The Rebels were also grateful to have goalkeeper Sam Campbell on his game. We had so much pressure on (Valentic) at times that he would have to give the ball up.” We used counter pressure to stay inside and make them play outside. We knew we had to deal with those two specifically. “They had Dures who was our Mitch Auer if you will. “We knew that Valentic was a great player and he was our Nick Novak,” Rebel co-head coach Riley Mackall said. Dures was able to score last in the match but by then it was far too late. The Rebel defense was tasked with slowing down Kirtland midfielder and leading scorer Marco Valentic as well as the very slippery forward Evan Dures. “We pick and choose who might be an opponent for us next and mainly us (the defenders) will sit down and watch hours and hours of film on them,” senior defensive back Cutter Crane said. He had every reason to believe in his defense. “They were going to have to (do it without me) because my calves hurt but with six minutes left and them playing good defense the entire game nothing was going to change.” “Both of my calves were cramping up and I was just like get me off the field,” Novak said. The junior’s calves were cramping and that was all he had left to give. It was fitting that Novak was carried off the field by coaches Scott Murray and Rob Auer with six minutes to play.

Half life 2 rebels