Hillsboro’s longtime varsity boys soccer Head Coach John Weber coached in his final game for the Indians on Thursday when they fell at home to the Circleville Tigers by a score of 2-1 in the sectional finals of the Division II Southeast District soccer tournament.
“This will be my last game. I’m not going to coach next year. I would rather watch. For my last year, I do want to say that I appreciate all the players that I have had the opportunity to coach and the school giving me the opportunity to coach. It’s been a fun ride, very bumpy like tonight. I am at least happy that I did have the opportunity to coach that team this year for their senior year,” said Weber.
The Indians had a week between games and it was evident in the first half as Circleville controlled the pace of the game and kept the ball on the Indians’ third of the field.
Hillsboro was able to keep the Tigers in check for much of the first half of play despite the continuous pressure on the defense and goal keeper by Circleville.
Then, with about three minutes to play in the half Circleville’s Will Bullock got a corner kick that he sent to teammate Connor Jones for a goal and a 1-0 lead for the Tigers.
Weber talked after the game about the poor execution from his team in the first half, “We played a very poor first half unfortunately. It put us in the hole going in 1-0 at the half. Passes, touches everything was just off.”
Following halftime Hillsboro came out with renewed energy as they flipped the script on Circleville and applied continuous pressure on the Tigers’ third of the field.
The Indians were able to capitalize early in the second half when Quinn Conlon converted with 33:24 remaining to tie the match at one goal apiece.
From there it was a back and forth affair that saw each team get multiple chances at the goal only to be thwarted by the opposing defense or goal keeper.
Circleville caught a big break with about five minutes to play when Dylan Burns earned a penalty kick that he sent past the Indians’ keeper for the 2-1 advantage.
“Just one of them rare mistakes at the end there with 5 minutes left that only happens one out of 100 times. Don’t know what happened, natural instinct to go and grab the ball,” Weber said regarding the penalty.
Following the Tigers’ goal the Indians were feverish in their attempt to tie the game but it was for naught as Circleville held on for the 2-1 win.
Circleville advances to the District semifinal match at Logan High School next Wednesday, October 24 at 5 p.m.
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
