Mansfield Senior beats Clear Fork for first OHSAA tournament win, sectional title since 2013

BELLVILLE — Before their Division II sectional championship game against Clear Fork, Mansfield Senior coach Bryan DeBolt handed his Tyger team a sheet with all of the program's tournament results over the last nine years.

On it was a bunch of losses — nine straight to be exact — with no wins and just one goal, last year in a 7-1 loss to Toledo St. John's Jesuit. So, when the Tygers came out and hung four goals on Clear Fork to win the sectional championship 4-1 and pick up their first postseason win in nine years, the celebration was much deserved.

"It is amazing because we put in so much work over the summer," Mansfield Senior junior Justin Crall said. "We are making history and I cannot be more proud of my boys. We had a little bit of a rocky season, but we have found a new focus in the postseason."

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Syncere Long got the scoring started as he finished a through ball at the front of the net with 14:48 left in the first half to put the Tygers on top 1-0, a score that stood until halftime. Crall made it 2-0 with a penalty kick with 36:52 remaining in the game before the Colts answered right back with a Bronson Frost goal at the 18:40 mark. Quinten DeBolt and Jaxson Stentz added goals less than a minute apart in the closing minutes of the match to secure the victory.

It was the first sectional championship since 2013 when the Tygers beat Madison 4-2 in the Division I postseason.

"For these guys to come out and put four up on a really, really good and very well-coached team like Clear Fork is huge," Bryan DeBolt said. "We came down here on their turf and these guys made me super proud."

Crall was happy to be called on to take the PK after a high kick in the box struck a Mansfield Senior player in the chest. Crall sent a rocket to the bottom left 90 off of the keeper's hands and into the net.

"We practiced them all day yesterday and I was making them one after another," Crall said. "Coach had faith in me and it feels good to not disappoint."

The Tygers' warmup shirts have two keywords on each sleeve. One side says quality and the other says intensity and those two words were a point of emphasis from kickoff and the Tygers showed out on both ends of the pitch.

"From game to practice, we have to play like that," DeBolt said. "We have had games where we played a half like that or went up a little bit and couldn't finish it out, but we knew if we came in with intensity right out of the gate, we would give ourselves a chance. We thought we matched up pretty well, but it was all about doing the intangibles. I felt like our guys got every 50-50 ball and gave it everything they had."

It matched the attitude they approached preseason workouts and every game this season. Though they didn't have the Ohio Cardinal Conference season they had hoped, they only won one league game, they still stuck to the script and it led them to next week's district tournament.

"I would put the work that we have done over the last six months up against any other program in the state," DeBolt said. "When we dropped down from Division I to Division II, we knew we had a chance to make a little run. There are some very quality teams in our district, but it isn't like we are going up against Division I private schools in Toldeo. We saw what we could do from the very beginning of the year and we gave ourselves an opportunity to win a tournament game. We tailored our training and every second of preparation for this moment."

Clear Fork coach Nate Gailey saw the intensity the Tygers brought on defense and saw his team respond well, but not often enough.

"We talked at the beginning of the game that Mansfield Senior was going to come out ready to play with a lot of speed and intensity and we had to be ready for it," Gailey said. "When we matched them, we did good things, but when we didn't, they controlled the run of play. Credit to them. They played a great game."

The Colts (10-7-1) said goodbye to six seniors - Bryson Shaffner, Connor Hauger, Caleb Peters, Jack Dudley, Jaden Beachy and Chris Mazzola.

"We gave each of them a hug and just thanked them," Gailey said. "There are a lot of young faces in our postgame huddle and they get to come back and do this again, but these seniors created a culture that will last a long time and I am so proud of them for that. They have been a part of some successful teams and were part of one of Clear Fork's five sectional championships. The accomplishments they have had and the culture they created shows how great of kids they are."

Mansfield Senior (9-9) moves on to play the winner of Norwalk and Vermilion at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Shelby High School in the Division II district semifinals.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Senior beats Clear Fork in OHSAA Division II boys soccer sectional championship