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Tigers, Warren boys face off today

With a spot in the district championship on the line, the Marietta and Warren boys soccer teams are ready for their district semi matchups Wednesday at Logan High School.

The fourth-seeded Tigers (8-6-2) will lead off at 5 p.m. against top-seeded Chillicothe while No. 2 Warren (8-5-3) follows at 7 p.m. against No. 6 Washington Court House. The winners of each match will play in the district final at 4 p.m. Saturday at the same venue.

The Tigers of head coach Todd Morris are coming off a 3-2 victory over Jackson. Max Miller, John Mannix and Jake Craven scored a goal apiece for MHS, which held an early 2-0 lead but saw Jackson come back to tie it by halftime. Miller’s header off Gage Herb’s corner kick proved to be the game-winner.

“We need to be much better when we have a lead developing a killer instinct,” said Marietta head coach Todd Morris. “Credit Jackson as they found their way back in it. I just felt we had some opportunities to put them away earlier and we weren’t quite able to do it.”

Morris feels his team will have to play well not just at the beginning but throughout the entire match to come away victorious against a talented Chillicothe squad. The Cavaliers already defeated Marietta 1-0 earlier this season.

“They (Chillicothe) are by far the best team in our district, so we know we have a tough challenge ahead of us,” Morris said. “We also know that we can play with them. We have two nights to prepare, so we will go up there Wednesday and see what happens.”

The Warriors, coached by Andy Pinkerton, received a pair of goals from Zed Strahler and another from Kyle Gardner in the 3-1 win over the Pointers. Freshman striker Ethan Yost is second on the team in goals behind Strahler while Matt Dugan, Matt Goodman and Kendrick Foreman are a few others to watch for the royal blue and white.

“This year, we’ve kind of spread the ball around quite a bit,” Pinkerton said. “We distribute the ball pretty well. I’m confident our offense will be able to keep it up.”

Washington Court House will present a challenge for Warren’s defense and keeper Thomas Williams.

“They have two phenomenal players,” Pinkerton said. “One player has scored 26 of their 52 goals and has 14 assists. They have another guy who came off an injury who is very solid as well. I think he has like nine goals. They make up the majority of their offense.”

Warren has come up with big wins this season, such as beating Logan and Rosecrans, and Pinkerton feels his team has risen to the occasion when facing big challenges. He’s hoping that’s the case Wednesday.

“We’ve faced opponents similar to (Washington Court House) where they have one or two key players they play the ball in to,” Pinkerton explained. “We have to cut ball supply off them by keeping possession at midfield or apply pressure and force them to go backwards.

“We should be extremely confident advancing. Against our most skilled opponents we’ve always came to play.”

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