Boys soccer: Floodgates open for Highland against Cloverleaf

GRANGER TWP. — Utilizing a huge second half Saturday night, the Highland boys soccer team set a season high for goals to pull away from Medina County foe Cloverleaf for a 7-1 non-league victory. After giving up a goal to the Colts' Jackson James on an assist by Braylon Young with 29 seconds left in the first half that cut the score to 2-1, the Hornets ripped off five goals to easily top the previous season high of three in wins over Copley and Tallmadge. Highland was led by Billy Zufall (2 goals, 1 assist), Brandon Kramer (2, 0), Evangelos Verginis (1, 2), Carson Kwiatkowski (1, 1) and Jacob Regovich (1, 0). "The talk in the locker room (from coach Chris Schaefer) kind of put it into us that we need to get more goals to get going," Kramer said. "We started slow and then got two goals (in the first half) and were kind of OK with where we were at. "When we came out of halftime, we knew we needed to win. We started off fast with a couple of goals and just kept going." Kramer gave Highland a 4-1 cushion off an assist by Zufall nearly 10 minutes into the second half, when he hopped over goalie Hudson Pavlik (6 saves) before finishing the goal. Kramer also scored the first goal of the game just over 10 minutes in. The win improves the Hornets (5-3-1) to 5-1-1 in their last seven games and removes the bad taste of a 3-2 loss to Louisville on Thursday in which they gave up the decisive goal with eight seconds left. For Cloverleaf (5-4-1), the loss snaps a three-game winning streak. It was the first meeting between the teams since Highland defeated the Colts 9-0 on Sept. 30, 2014. "We stopped talking," James said. "They were fast and made really good runs. Our offense wasn't talking to the defense, and the defense wasn't talking to the offense. It wasn't a great game. "They're obviously the better team and bigger school, but we could have played that better." James' goal off a perfect feed by Young briefly gave Cloverleaf life, but the Colts were back playing catch-up less than six minutes into the second half when Zufall scored his second goal off a deflection in the box. "It was a great ball by Braylon," James said. "He told me, 'Jackson, go!' and I was onside. I saw the opening and went through. He played it perfect, and when the keeper came up, I was able to get a perfect touch on it right over the keeper and it bounced in." Highland's Connor Dean saved the other three shots on target to keep his team comfortably ahead. Zufall gave Highland a 2-0 lead with his first goal off a pass from Verginis. "I feel like we did a great job," Zufall said. "We were really working as a team. We got the ball out wide and got through balls in. We did a really good job running onto through balls." Zufall also played a pivotal role on the Hornets' fifth goal when he fired a shot that Pavlik saved, but Regovich was there for the rebound. Highland got its last two goals from the combination of Verginis and Kwiatkowski. Kwiatkowski fed Verginis with just under 16 minutes left to play, then the roles reversed less than one minute later. "Us talking to each other after each goal or after each play allows us to figure out what we're going to do," Kramer said. "Especially when we get up like that, we get the motivation and momentum to keep going." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Highland 7, Cloverleaf 1 CLOVERLEAF 1 0 — 1 HIGHLAND 2 5 — 7 First H — Brandon Kramer, 29:15. H — Billy Zufall (Evangelos Verginis), 16:12. C — Jackson James (Braylon Young), 0:29. Second H — Zufall, 34:15. H — Kramer (Zufall), 30:14. H — Jacob Regovich, 19:03. H — Verginis (Carson Kwiatkowski), 15:51. H — Kwiatkowski (Verginis), 15:06. Shots on goal — Cloverleaf 4, Highland 13. Corner kicks — Cloverleaf 3, Highland 5. Saves — Hudson Pavlik (C) 6, Connor Dean (H) 3. Records — Cloverleaf (5-4-1), Highland (5-3-1). Junior varsity — Highland 6, Cloverleaf 0.