MANSFIELD — The switch has been flipped.
In Mansfield Christian’s 4-0 Division V sectional championship win over Huron, the Flames kicked it into postseason mode and played an aggressive style of soccer that wasn’t seen much during the regular season.
The Flames peppered the goal with 35 shots, 23 on frame, recorded 10 corner kicks and put an unbelievable amount of pressure on the Huron defense.
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“It is natural for a young team to unlock a different gear when it is time to switch to a tournament mindset,” Mansfield Christian coach Kaedon Anderson said. “There were moments where I didn’t love it, because that is not our style of soccer, but we were up 4-0 and with two minutes left, our guys were pressing for a fifth, so I loved that mindset.”
Super sophomore Jacoby Dickinson recorded a hat trick scoring with 19:30 left in the first half and 31:26 and 2:50 remaining in the match. Henry Kruse added the other goal while Teo Butler, Aiden Finlay and William Kruse had one assist apiece.
“It is great,” Dickinson said of his three-goal night. “I am working toward my goal of the single-season record of 41 and I am at 33 now, so it is great. More importantly, I am happy to help the team get a win and send the seniors off with a victory in their last game on this field.”
Joshua Hillman, one of three seniors on the team along with William Kruse and Dawson Loose, had 10 saves on the night and recorded the shutout in his final game at Comstock Field. It was exactly the way he wanted to finish his final match.
“Honestly, it is one of the best feelings in the world,” Hillman said. “It is sad to know this is my last game on this field and even more sad that the season is almost over. I wish I could play 20 more games with these guys.”
The Flames improve to 9-7-2 on the season, which may seem like an unremarkable record for a sectional championship squad, but when looking at their regular-season schedule which included games against much bigger schools like Madison, Orrville, Clear Fork, Mount Vernon, Ontario and Ashland, it is no surprise why they earned the No. 1 overall seed in the district draw.
“It was tough mentally during the regular season because you have a group of guys who want to win,” Anderson said. “We were playing some of the best Division II teams in the state and even beat a great team like Ashland, so you put tough teams like that on the schedule to test yourself and boost moral. We absolutely feel prepared for tournament time and that is a credit to our athletic director (Ben) Stauffer for setting our guys up for success.”
Dickinson feels the Flames are as prepared as they can be for a deep run in the postseason as they will take on Crestview (13-5) at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Tiffin’s Frost-Kalnow Stadium in the Division V district semifinals.
“We were coming off of a couple performances in the last couple games where we felt we could have done better and even won those games,” Dickinson said. “As underclassmen, we realized this was it for our seniors and that really it a fire in all of us.
“I think we are very prepared. Playing teams like Ashland, Clear Fork and those really good bigger school teams, you can’t help but be prepared for a deep tournament run. As long as we perform up to our standards, we feel good about our postseason chances.”
But Thursday night was all about sending the seniors off the right way.
“It is so good,” Anderson said. “The young guys even wanted to send them off with a win. We set the tone before the game that this was their last one on this field, so we needed to make it memorable. I hope they feel satisfied with their effort.”
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Christian activates postseason mode in sectional final win