Make no mistake about it — the talent and depth that is featured across the board in Scioto County in the sport of boys soccer is at an all-time high.
That means that you'll never know who will come out on top in any match.
In the latest standout meeting between two Scioto County powers, the Valley Indians' boys soccer program broke a scoreless tie between the South Webster Jeeps' boys soccer program by getting two goals within the opening 14 minutes of the second half, as second-half scoring salvos by Valley seniors Caysen Zieber and Aidan Burchett led the Indians to a 2-0 victory over South Webster on Tuesday evening in South Webster.
For Valley head coach Jacob Perry, the Indians' play in the match, as well as the overall result, was vital, particularly in helping with the group's overall mental psyche as the 2026 OHSAA State Tournament begins within a week's time.
"Going into that game, with tournament rankings coming out the Sunday before, it was important to reiterate to our guys that numbers on rankings really don't mean anything," Perry said. "While we found out that we were ranked higher than them, they're playing like a team that was ranked lower. They're a good team. We know from all of their results that they've defended well. They tied Minford. They tied Wheelersburg twice. They're a team that defends well — so going into the match with a mindset of this not being an easy game was huge. We knew that the speed and intensity of play was something that we were going to have to match, and we did that. Senior Night helped to up the intensity a little bit."
Coming into the match, South Webster head coach Corey Claxon and his group was aware of the talent that Valley had on the offensive side of the pitch, and its strong defensive unit did more than its part in the first half as the Jeeps and Indians played to a scoreless opening half tie.
But nine shots on goal for Valley compared to six for South Webster proved to be a difference-maker, as the Indians, with its deep offensive attack, put the heat on stout freshman goalkeeper David Rowland, particularly in the second half. Rowland again showed his stout goalkeeping skills throughout the match with seven saves, but Valley kept the pressure on en route to striking early in the second half with its two difference-making salvos off of the legs of Zieber and Burchett.
"They are a talented team and have several dangerous players on the offensive side of things," Claxon said. "They moved the ball quickly and got open just enough to put a couple hard shots on goal that Dave couldn't get to. We have recently moved some players around and there are still some adjustments that need to be made when playing a new role, but that is why this game was good for us. We are in the other bracket come tournament time, and I expect Valley to do well."
On the opposite end, Valley senior Hunter Sparks used the matchup between the two top-15 state-ranked foes in the OHSAA Division V realm to show off his own value. The heir apparent to former Valley alum Chris Queen, Sparks showed off his reflexes en route to making six stops over the course of the match.
"Hunter's had a couple of years to really get thrown to the wolves," Perry said. "He stepped in his freshman year, and at that time, we had just lost Chris Queen, who was a phenomenal keeper for us. We didn't really have a keeper that was going to be that guy for us, so Hunter got to see a lot of time early on, which has compounded over the years."
"I thought we played well in the first half and had a couple good shots that (Sparks) made good saves on," Claxon said. "We had a good share of possession and were defensively strong."
Following the halftime break, Perry's main message was to deliver early haymakers.
"Coming out, it felt like we were in a lull a little bit in the first half," Perry said. "We weren't stepping to the ball like we needed to and we weren't capitalizing on the chances that we had. Coming out of the half, it was about doing everything that we were doing, but just at a higher intensity and a stronger force, working a little bit harder. I always try to tell the guys that the first 10 minutes of each half are the most important. If you come out slow in the first 10 minutes of a game, and you go down in the first 10 minutes, the momentum automatically swings in someone's favor."
Valley's offensive attack did just that.
In the 47th minute, Zieber cleared a ball out of the back of Valley's defense to Ryden Romanello, who launched a through ball to Jaxsyn Bender.
Not slowing down on the play after the clearance, Bender was able to lay the ball off to Zieber for a one-time punch into the bottom right corner of the net as the Indians took a 1-0 lead.
"That was the momentum that we needed," Perry said. "I felt like we came out working harder than they did over the first seven minutes, and then to cap that, it was like the guys saw the fruits of their labor. That gave us a big momentum swing."
Seven minutes later, Perry's group struck again.
Getting the ball at the top of the 18, Burchett took two touches across and lofted a shot that banged off of the left post and past the line. The goal gave the Indians a needed cushion that it would hold the rest of the way.
"Aidan has had a great year in general," Perry said. "He had a bit of a transition in role where he started the past year or two, and came in and turned into our 12th guy — the first guy off of the bench. He's also the first man up when we need somebody. Aidan is solid. He had a great two weeks of practice. I haven't seen him shoot better than I have these last two weeks."
"In the second half, we seemed to be a step behind in the middle and on defense," Claxon said. "That led to a few opportunities that Valley took advantage of with some good shots."
With the win, Valley (12-1-3) has gone 10-0-1 in its last 11 matches. The Indians faced Minford Thursday evening at 7 p.m. in Lucasville in its regular season finale.
"Every team's going to give you their best shot," Perry said. "It's not going to be a situation where you're catching a team on their off-day. Every team is going to be on their 'A' game. Getting those games, especially at the end of the year when we're playing our best ball, and seeing that we are, is really going to help fuel the guys for the coming weeks into mid-November."
South Webster, who is now 8-5-3 in 2026, hosted Jackson in the village in its own regular season finale.