Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
LOGAN — It’s not very often where a defender gets a chance at a goal. And Logen Drummond was not missing out on his chance.
With the first half coming to a close, Gallia Academy’s senior captain took a (16-2-1) free kick, and found an opening for a goal.
And that’s all it took.
From that point on, the Blue Devils (16-2-1) rode a shutdown defense on Tuesday, featuring Maddux Delaney in goal, and preserved a 1-0 victory over Warren (11-5-2) in a Division III district semifinal at Logan High School.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
“We made some tactical changes the night before the game because we didn’t want Warren to beat us wide and then go central on us,” Gallia Academy coach Cory Camden said. “I thought we did a great job with that in the first half. We dropped in a lot more in the second half. I could tell that fatigue was starting to settle in a little more since we were pressing hard but it was an eventful and inventive game.”
Three years ago, Gallia Academy was celebrating its first-ever district championship in school history.
Those freshmen are now seniors and remember that feeling. Since, they’ve blazed a trail on the soccer pitch to go down — potentially — as the program’s greatest senior class ever.
Tuesday, they punched their third district final ticket in four years.
“These seniors were a part of that first-ever title back in 2022, and then won it again last season. So they said coming into the season that it’d be pretty cool to be the senior class that won three districts,” Camden said. “We’re the very last team in Division III, so when the season began I was the one who was a little worried about it. But the kids said that we’ll figure it out and get the job done, and they were right.”
Both teams went back and forth for 30 minutes, figuring out what areas to attack and seeing where the weaknesses were.
While both had their chances to score, nothing crossed the goal line. It became clear that it was coming down to who could connect off a given chance, and that’s where Drummond made his mark.
PHOTOS: Images from Gallia Academy’s district semifinal win over Warren
With a free kick opportunity at the 15, he found an opening through Warren’s wall and struck the bottom right corner of the net to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
“I did the same thing tonight that I did against Fairland earlier this season. They had a gap in their wall and I split it,” Drummond said. “We pressed Warren hard, and made them make mistakes that we could take advantage of.”
Gallia understood that Warren, at some point, was going to push up aggressively and put shots on target.
However, Delany was ready to be a wall.
With one shot after another being fired off, the junior keeper continued to sacrifice his body, fight through traffic on corners and punch the ball away to make saves.
“A lot of shots were starting to come my way, so I had to be on my feet ready to make a play,” Delaney said. “We wanted a bunch of film on Warren from the last time we played them, and adapted to their play style. That ability to adapt was huge for us, and a big part of us getting the victory.”
Warren had some a couple of chances as time ticked away, but missed three shots from less than 10 yards out, either high or right.
With the wind taken out of the Warriors’ sails upon those missed opportunities, the clock eventually hit zeroes and preserved the Blue Devil victory.
Gallia Academy returns to action in a Division III district final at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Logan High School against Jackson, who defeated Fairfield Union to move on.
The Blue Devils handed the Ironmen one of their two losses on the season back on Sept. 18 — a 2-1 comeback win.
However, they know this time will only be that much harder to pull off the same.
“We have a lot of guys who play soccer year round, and I’m proud of how we’re playing,” Delaney said. “All of the summer and winter practices, it all leads to this game and it feels good to be back in a spot that I feel we belong in.”
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