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PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Litteral/Portsmouth Daily Times
JACKSON — Behind a stingy defense and a trio of sophomore goal scorers, the South Webster Jeeps won their first district championship since 2019 on Saturday.
Saturday was the third meeting of the season between South Webster and the Northwest Mohawks and it was evident that there was no love lost early between the SOC rivals.
Fast and physical action all over the pitch led to many whistles, but also some open field.
The Jeeps (15-3-2) used that open field to perfection as Tyler Sommer sent a high cross into the goal box, which sophomore Hunter Barnard was able to get on the other end of with a gorgeous header.
Barnard’s header just crossed the goal line before a Mohawk defender could make the save. The Jeeps had blitzed the Mohawks (14-5-1) for an opening goal in the first five minutes of action, stunning the Northwest faithful.
South Webster struck again 11 minutes later, using the same Sommer to Barnard connection. At the 25:07 mark, Sommer again sent a beautiful cross into the goal mouth, this time with Barnard getting a foot on the other end and finishing it for a quick 2-0 lead for the Jeeps.
Even though the Mohawks trailed, their confidence didn’t falter as they looked to connect with Caleb Lewis on the attack.
The senior came into the match with 53 goals on the season and was able to use his size and skill to break free for a left-footed shot halfway through the half. But the Jeeps’ Sam Odegaard was able to smother it to keep the clean sheet intact.
“Our defense was solid tonight,” South Webster coach Corey Claxon mentioned. “Because they’ve got some really good players. And sometimes things just go a little bit more your way.”
Disaster came for the Mohawks at the 10:47 mark of the first half when outstanding senior Jay Jenkins was given his second yellow card of the contest, leading to the Mohawks having to play with 10 instead of the typical 11. On top of being down a man, the Mohawks would be without one of the top playmakers in the area for the remainder of the contest.
The Jeeps took advantage almost immediately as Benaiah Andrews scored with 8:25 to play for a commanding 3-0 lead. The sophomore took the ball on the left side of the box and made three quick moves to find an opening before beating the keeper, moving the Jeeps one step closer to the Sweet 16.
After over 35 minutes of back and forth play, South Webster’s Carson Corriell put a capper on the scoring as he finished off a low cross from Andrews with 13:42 to play.
“We have a lot of sophomores on this team that are key players,” Claxon said of his goal scorers. “I think that that they have grown to play more like upperclassmen.”
With the win, the Jeeps return to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. They’ll battle with Wheelersburg for the third time this season at 7 p.m., Wednesday at Logan High School.
“It’s great when you have southeast vs southeast, it gives a great chance for our area to move forward,” Claxon said of the upcoming match. “This is confidence for us and we have been playing well.”
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