Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — Mike McCorkle didn’t have to say much to his squad at halftime on Thursday.
His team’s veterans delivered the message themselves.
After taking a 3-2 lead over Hillsboro into the break, the Cavaliers weren’t satisfied with their play.
“I really didn’t have to say much to them,” McCorkle said. “Our captains and seniors were already talking when I got over there. They really sorted it out themselves. I had some minor adjustments I wanted to make, but really, it’s a group that knows it didn’t play the best in the first half. They made two mistakes on defense and they always own them.”
Mistakes were few and far between in the second 40-minute stanza. In fact, in the second half’s first 10 minutes, Chillicothe (6-3, 5-0 FAC) added four goals to its lead — essentially putting the game out of reach en route to a resounding 9-2 victory.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“They came out determined in the second half and they really put it on [Hillsboro],” McCorkle said. “That’s a pretty good Hillsboro team, we’re playing for first place in our league, and they really shut them down in the second half. They played a great second half. It was 6-0. We weren’t finishing well in the first half and we did after halftime. That was really the difference.”
Tale of the tape
Carter Dunfee had no issues finishing throughout the entirety of the night.
Chillicothe’s senior striker gave his Cavaliers a 1-0 lead with 36:40 left in the first half off a feed from Gabe Ramsey.
But Hillsboro (7-2, 3-2 FAC) answered with a goal from Wesley Bailey at the 27:31 mark — thanks to an assist from Judah Brandyberry — to force a 1-1 tie.
With 16:49 to go, Ramsey scored a goal of his own to put Chillicothe back on top at 2-1. Then, with 13:08 remaining, Henry Byrd joined the party and extended the Cavaliers’ lead to 3-1.
“This is one of the better offensive groups I’ve coached and I’ve been here a long time,” McCorkle said. “We have a lot of flexibility. We can play aggressive on the offensive end or sit back and play defense, which is nice. I can move a lot of people around in a lot of different positions. Tonight, you could see that. We’re getting better and better. I think we’ve got our formation down, we have the right pieces in place and it’s starting to come together.”
The Indians weren’t going away just yet, though.
Bailey broke free from the defense with 8:37 to go in the first half, beating the keeper and cutting the deficit to 3-2 going into the break.
But as soon as the second half began, all momentum that Hillsboro seemed to grab disappeared quickly.
PHOTOS: Images from Chillicothe’s win over Hillsboro
Two minutes into the action, Aidan Fischer found Dunfee for his second goal of the evening before Dunfee scored again to complete a hat trick, this time on an assist from Ramsey, with 34:07 left.
That 5-2 lead swelled to 7-2 when Sam Byrd and Fischer scored at the 32:49 and 30:11 marks, respectively. That was more than enough cushion to allow Chillicothe to go into cruise control.
Dunfee scored his fourth goal with 9:01 to go before Tevaughn Beatty completed the night’s scoring with just 14 seconds left, putting an exclamation point on an imperative victory.
“We talk about connecting passes and they’re connecting all the time, period, even off the field,” McCorkle said. “They get along and they’re a great group. On the field, you can really see them gel and you can really see how well they play together. They’re selfless. It’s team soccer. There were a lot of times in the second half where we were putting five, six, seven passes together in a row. There were a lot of people involved, we had great balance and that was great to see.”
Stat book
Dunfee led the way statistically, tying his career high with four goals. Meanwhile, Gabe Ramsey posted a goal and two assists, Fischer had a score and an assist, and Sam Byrd, Henry Byrd and Beatty each scored once.
Bailey was responsible for both of Hillsboro’s goals while Brandyberry logged an assist.
In total, Chillicothe fired 21 shots on target, compared to the seven that Hillsboro took.
What’s on tap
Both teams are back in action on Saturday.
Hillsboro will attempt to get back in the win column with a home date against Wilmington while Chillicothe travels to London.
“I think we just take the momentum we got here and continue getting better,” McCorkle said. “There are still some things we need to work on. We gave up two goals tonight that we shouldn’t have. Those are adjustments we need to make. So we take the things we did well tonight and carry that into Saturday. London is a good squad. We need to play those types of teams at this time of the year.”
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