Sectional championship slips away from Knights
It took more than 120 minutes for the Knights to score a goal against Coshocton this season. An Oct. 24 regular season meeting between the Knights and the Redskins ended in a 0-0 tie.In the Division II Sectional championship on Saturday, Oct. 24, at River View, Andrew Vaccariello of West Holmes scored off a Michael Anthony assist just a few minutes into the second half. The Knights were the first to break through, but Coshocton would have an answer before things were said and done.
Lucas Dunlap of Coshocton had other plans, assisting on a goal with 19:23 left in the half and then blasting one of his own goals with just 5:31 to play, ultimately burying the Sectional championship hopes of the fifth-seeded Knights. The Redskins slipped by the Knights 2-1, advancing to the one game District on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
The first half seemed to be just like the entire game that was played earlier this month between these teams in Millersburg: a lot of Coshocton possession, a few great scoring chances and some controlled passing.
Neither team had a shot on goal through the first 13 minutes. Soon after that first shot, the play started to heat up. Dunlap of Coshocton was able to knife through the West Holmes defense for a couple chances at the 22:20 mark and also two minutes later, sailing a similar chance high over the Knights’ goal.
West Holmes had only one shot in the first half. Midfielder Joey Alexander tried to beat Coshocton goalie John Tignor with a shot that was pushed over the crossbar. Coshocton countered that chance with one of their own. This time a Dunlap shot was saved by Aaron McKee with a hockey style kick save. McKee made another nice save with just over a minute left in the first half when he blocked another Coshocton shot by Ryan Shutt.
The Knights’ defense had shut out the No. 8 team in the Final Division II Poll for 120 straight minutes of play.
“That’s a real accomplishment for us, holding the number eight team in the state without a goal for so long. That is pretty tough,” said West Holmes coach Nic Fioritto. “We earned a lot of respect today.”
Certainly an accomplishments that the Knights seniors can take with them.
The second half started great for the Knights. Just under four minutes in, Vaccariello took a pass from senior Anthony and put it away in an empty Redskins goal.
The Coshocton keeper, Tignor, came out to try and tackle the ball away from Anthony’s feet. Anthony simply sent the ball across the goal face on the ground and Vaccariello ran on to send it in. One of these teams finally scored against the other and the Knights led 1-0.
After the goal, which was their last shot of the game, the Knights tried to hold on defensively, having six defenders at times lining up across the back line.
Seniors Zach Didinger and Parker Abraham for West Holmes played an inspired match on defense alongside sophomore Christian Joy.
Coshocton finally broke through the Knights’ defense after a combined two game time of 140 minutes, when Dunlap slid a short cross across the front of West Holmes goal were it found Austin Bryant’s right boot. Bryant’s goal came at the 19:23 mark after Coshocton had been knocking on the Knights’ door since the Knights scored.
The Redskins continued in the attack for the remainder of the game and again scored with 5:31 left to play. This time Dunlap finished one himself, scoring the game-winning goal.
Coshocton came up against a tough opponent on Saturday at River View, one that worked hard and didn’t let anything come easy for the Redskins.
The great effort by the Knights was the last for several seniors.
“We have a lot of good kids, that had a great effort today. I am sad that it is over for them, but know some of them will have great careers at the next level,” first-year coach Fioritto said.
McKee finished the game for the Knights with six saves in goal for West Holmes. The Knights were outshot 15-2.
The Knights finished the season with a 6-10-2 record, but with the respect earned this season and some younger guys getting some playing time, they are hoping for more good things to come.