Twinsburg’s perfect season ended on one perfectly placed shot. Brecksville-Broadview Heights beat the Tigers 1-0 in the OHSAA Division II, Region 7 final on Sunday, November 8, with Hunter Valenti scoring the game’s only goal with 23:21 remaining, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Valenti’s winner came off a ball slotted through by Max Crncevic — Valenti went high and kissed the shot off the crossbar and into the goal, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. The win sends Brecksville, 15-3-2, to a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 11, against New Albany at Bellville Clear Fork, The Columbus Dispatch’s state tournament schedule shows.
The result was revenge, three months in the making. Twinsburg beat Brecksville by two goals in a shutout to open the season, the Beacon Journal reported — and the Tigers had not lost since, arriving at the regional final 18-1-1 with the only blemish a draw. The Bees made sure the rematch counted for more.
Twinsburg’s season closes at 18-1-1, with its seniors having carried the program through a winter of 7 a.m. lifting sessions and a fall that stayed unbeaten until the season’s final Sunday. “This meant the world to us,” Twinsburg goalkeeper Cooper Goodman told the Akron Beacon Journal. “It taught me a lot about how to be a better person. I’m going to take all these lessons going forward in life beyond this team, beyond high school, beyond college and into our world.”
Brecksville’s run continues a strong Sunday for Northeast Ohio boys soccer, even as two area neighbors fell in their own regional finals — Avon Lake edged Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy on penalty kicks in Division III, and Revere advanced past Maumee in the same division, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
For the Bees, the semifinal assignment is a New Albany team that beat Westerville North 2-1 in its regional final and brings a 9-4-4 record shaped by one of central Ohio’s toughest schedules, per The Columbus Dispatch.
What happens next: Brecksville faces New Albany at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 11, at Bellville Clear Fork, with the winner advancing to the Division II state final on Monday, November 16, at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus.
Photo: SilentMatt Psychedelic, CC BY-SA