MINFORD — The Minford High School soccer squads split a Saturday season-opening non-league doubleheader against the visiting Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs —and by 3-1 counts in both bouts.
The Falcon boys captured the win —buoyed by a pair of first-half goals.
The reverse happened unfortunately for the Lady Falcons, as Lynchburg-Clay tallied twice in the opening half —before the two teams exchanged goals in the second.
For the Minford boys, the defending Southern Ohio Conference Division II champion with Wheelersburg and back-to-back Division III district champion under third-year head coach Jacob Hackworth, scored twice in the opening 40 minutes —the second of which was a penalty-kick conversion by Ethan Cordle.
Ashton Reeder, a Falcon freshman, recorded the first goal of the season —and the first goal of his career off a Myles Montgomery assist.
Speaking of Montgomery, he scored the Falcons’ third goal —and the only Minford marker of the second half off a Ty Borland helper.
Kade Glockner made two saves for the Falcons as the goalkeeper, as the Mustangs managed a second-half goal —when Noah Bitzer scored and Austin Bell assisted.
In the girls match, Lynchburg led 2-0 at halftime, as the Mustangs mustered a pair of tallies by senior Jade Massey and one by fellow senior Autumn Wilkin.
The Mustangs — which improved to an undefeated 3-0-1 — took 20 shots, as assists went to Massey, Jayden Maxfield and Aubrey Slack.
L-C sophomore goalkeeper Caitlyn Collins finished with three saves, as junior Lexi Conkel —the Lady Falcons’ record-holder for most goals scored in a single season with 49 made last year —had Minford’s marker.
That was her 69th career goal, as she took four shots against the Mustangs —while Ava Cronin had one.
Ella Estep had the assist on Conkel’s goal.
Falcons rout Rock Hill
PEDRO — The Minford Falcons simply had no issues in rolling the host and non-league Rock Hill Redmen on Monday night, scoring six first-half goals —and two more markers in the first half of the second half —en route to the 8-1 rout.
Actually, the only issue was whether or not the Falcons would post a shutout —which Rock Hill, as it turned out, averted.
The Redmen were credited with a Landon Rose first-half goal with no time on the clock, but otherwise, it was all Minford Monday night all the time.
In the opening half, Carson Cronin scored twice in the opening six minutes and 25 seconds —as Gavin Downey (35:20) and Myles Montgomery (33:35) had the assists.
Alex Reeder registered the third goal at the 32:17 juncture, as Grant Wheeler was the assister on that one.
Ethan Cordle converted a penalty kick for the second consecutive contest, at the 30:51 point — as Downey at 12:44 and Montgomery at 11:34 had unassisted goals only a minute and 10 seconds apart.
Rose’s ruled marker made it 6-1 at halftime, as otherwise Kyle Laxton with three saves and Kade Glockner with one were the goalkeepers for the Falcons.
Cordle scored again with 28-and-a-half minutes remaining, then senior Troy Rhodes recorded an unassisted counter with 20 minutes left.
The Falcons returned to the road, and opened SOC II competition, on Thursday night at West.
Minford has two home matches coming up —against Valley on Saturday night and against Northwest in the SOC II on Tuesday night.
Both are set for 7 p.m. starts.
Lady Falcons blank Fairland
PROCTORVILLE — The Lady Falcons traveled to Fairland for a non-league encounter on Wednesday night with the host Dragons, and pitched a solid 6-0 shutout.
Minford moved to 1-1 with the win, scoring five second-half goals —including three within 15 minutes and 55 seconds of each other.
In the first half, just eight-and-a-half minutes in, Minford made the only goal it ultimately needed —as Ava Cronin crossed a pass to Lexi Conkel for the point.
Cronin then assisted the second marker, only a minute and 24 tics into the second stanza —as Marley Rhodes racked up the goal.
Just four minutes and 10 seconds into the second period, a Rhodes pass to Conkel for her second score made it 3-0 —and the rout was officially on.
With 22:41 to play, Cronin scored on a corner kick from Claire Clevenger.
Exactly nine minutes later, a through pass from Maggie Risner found Conkel for the hat trick —and the 72nd goal of her already decorated Minford Red career.
Finally, with only 3:15 left, Risner scored unassisted off a loose ball.
“It was a slow start for our second game, but we got it going. I was pleased with the overall distribution of the ball,” said 10-year Minford head coach Shane Tieman. “Ava Cronin was a lightning rod for us on the left wing, and we had solid play from our starters and also very strong play from our subs off the bench.”
Minford keeper Addie Lemon made four saves, while Fairland netminder Katie Stitt was busy all evening —stopping 15 Lady Falcon fires.
The Lady Falcons return to the road, and return to non-league action, on Saturday afternoon at Division I Lancaster.
First touch is set for 12:30 p.m. at Lancaster’s Fulton Field.
Lancaster and Athens, a Division II girls soccer program, were the only regular-season losses last year for the Lady Falcons —which went 15-3-0.
Minford plays host to its first SOC match on Tuesday —against Northwest at 5 p.m.
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