Nation Ford head coach Kenny Halas praised his team’s passion following a 4-1 road win against crosstown rival Catawba Ridge Tuesday night in the Pit.
Brian Miranda scored twice in the first half, Reid Douglass earned a tap-in soon after the halftime break, and Alec Lindenberg slotted home a penalty kick to salt the win away from home.
“It was exactly what we trained for yesterday,” Halas said. “How we transition, get the ball to a striker. … The passion I see, that’s the turning point for us. We’ve had two and a half games of real passion. I love it. That’s what can fuel us in the playoffs.”
With the non-region win, Nation Ford finishes the regular season with a 16-6-1 record. Catawba Ridge drops to 17-3 on the season with one last regular season game at Clover High School to come on Friday.
Nation Ford finishes its regular season as the No. 3 seed out of Region III and will begin the Class 5A playoffs with a first-round game against the No. 3 seed out of Region I on Monday, April 29.
Catawba Ridge head coach Phillip McCarter says the final two non-region games of the season are designed to get his team up to playoff speed.
The Copperheads went undefeated in region play to win a region title, going 10-0 in Region 3-4A. McCarter’s team earned a No. 1 seed in its state playoffs and will enjoy a first-round bye. Catawba Ridge is expected to play its first playoff opponent Wednesday, May 1.
“You can only get up to speed against really good competition,” McCarter said. “Sometimes in soccer, the ball literally doesn’t bounce your way. But if you’ve been around the game long enough, it happens. I think if you do well in region, you’re successful, it brings an air of something. Now we’re back down to earth. We’ll clean up some places and get better.”
While Catawba Ridge controlled the early possessions, Nation Ford enjoyed the best opportunities of the first half.
Junior Brian Miranda opened the scoring with a well-controlled play in the 15th minute. He collected a long pass from midfield, shrugged off a defender and beat Catawba Ridge goalkeeper Liam Prendergast with a low effort to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
The early strike lit a fire under the hosts. Joshua Zawlocki’s cheeky chip from distance in the 22nd minute beat goalkeeper JJ Podlasek, but clanged against the far post and out. Midfielder Jeremy White fired a long-range effort just seconds later, but Podlasek was equal to it.
Nation Ford doubled its lead in the 34th minute when Catawba Ridge failed to clear its lines on defense. Miranda took control on the right edge of the penalty box and struck another hard right-footed shot past Prendergast at his far post.
Paul Meyers forced the Catawba Ridge keeper into an acrobatic save four minutes later in the final action of an entertaining and well-paced first half.
Ten minutes into the second half, Catawba Ridge cut the visitors’ lead in half. Defender Stewart Sandvoss rose highest to head home a long free kick cross, and the defender celebrated on his way back to his position.
But that momentum was short-lived. Nation Ford’s attackers played a neat combination play in the Catawba Ridge box seven minutes later, and junior Reid Douglass had the final tap-in to restore the Falcons’ two-goal lead.
Alec Lindenberg later made it 4-1 in the 65th minute, dispatching a penalty kick past Prendergast after a Copperheads’ defender was called for a handball offense.
Halas said his team did a strong job of controlling the tempo.
“We didn’t want to play wide open,” he said. “I’m really happy with our recovery.”
“Our touch was off,” McCarter said. “We need to clean that up. The runs weren’t always in sync. We’ll work on that in the next couple days.”
Catawba Ridge finishes the regular season Friday, April 26 with a non-region test at Clover, another Region 3-5A opponent.
April 23 Roundup
The Fort Mill boys’ tennis team won in the first round of the 5A state playoffs at home beating Gaffney 6-0. Fort Mill won each match in straight sets with No. 1 singles Clay Wilson winning 6-3, 6-3; No. 2 singles Zach Hughes winning 6-4, 6-2; No. 3 singles Arnav Meshram winning 6-0, 6-2; No. 4 singles Xander Pak winning 6-1, 6-2 and No. 5 singles Jack Childs winning 6-1, 6-0. In doubles, Cade Simms and Lucas Coelho won 6-1, 6-0.
The Nation Ford boys’ tennis team fell in the first round of the 5A playoffs 4-2 on the road to Mauldin.
The Fort Mill baseball team beat the Carolina Royals on the road to improve to 19-5 overall on the season. Rayce Buskirk got the win pitching two innings and allowing just one hit, while striking out four. Braden Richardson went 1-3 with two RBIs and Carter Blankinship went 1-3 with an RBI.
The Fort Mill softball team dropped a close game to York 5-4 despite outhitting the Cougars. The loss drops Fort Mill to 5-10 on the season as Ava DiPetro led at the plate going 2-4.
The Fort Mill girls’ soccer team beat Indian Land 2-1 in non-region action to finish their regular season at 8-10-3 overall.
The Fort Mill boys’ soccer team loss 2-1 to Indian Land on the road as they finished the regular season at 11-8-1 overall.
The Catawba Ridge softball team swept a non-region doubleheader against Clover winning 1-0 and 3-0. Chloe Burger pitched a five-inning no-hitter in game one and Keira O’Brien and Burger combined for the shutout in game two. Both Audrey Wilson and Jaidyn Harris hit home runs in the doubleheader. Catawba Ridge improved to 20-2 overall on the season.
