First-half goals spur Pirates to district final

A pair of late first-half goals were all No. 2 Rocky River needed to secure its spot in the district final as it defeated No. 3 Fairview, 2-0, in a Division II Elyria District semifinal at Rocky River Stadium on Oct. 23.

The Pirates (15-1-2) advance to the district final for a rivalry renewed against top-seeded and Great Lakes Conference rival Bay (15-1-3) on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at Mercy Health Field at Ely Stadium.

After a handful of aggressive shots early, Rocky River broke through in the 34th minute with a dazzling play down the middle of the field from senior Christian Devorace.

His eventual shot was blocked by Fairview junior goalie Dominic Donofrio. Ever the opportunist, fellow senior Daniel Hornig stuck with the play, cleaning it up with a high shot into the back of the net for the score.

Hornig recalled the play as a resilient team effort.

“I saw Christian, and he was going to line up a shot,” he said. “It’s always good to follow it, especially in big games because anything can happen. I followed it and mine went in and scored. It worked out for both of us.”

Devorace credited his teammate on the follow-up play.

“Yeah, he got the rebound on that one,” Devorace said. “It’s just as exciting as scoring a goal. For the team to go up 1-0 like that before the end of the first half, it doesn’t matter who scores.”

The Pirates weren’t done, as they added another goal two minutes later with a shot in traffic that was eventually

tapped in by senior Owen Jaite, giving Rocky River a 2-0 lead in a matter of minutes.

Pirates coach Kevin Zerbey knew his team had the weapons to score quickly.

“Yeah, we have had some games where we scored early, and that obviously opens up things,” Zerbey said. “We wanted to try to score early and it just wasn’t happening. We were getting pressured and, you know, we just did a good job of dealing with what they had, and creating some stuff for ourselves. That 10-minute span where we got the two goals, that was some pretty good soccer.”

The Warriors (9-5-2) battled hard through the first 30 minutes, but were quickly hit with the pair of haymakers that placed them in a tough spot as they went into halftime trailing, 2-0.

“Yeah, that three minutes killed us,” Fairview coach Roger Brooks said. “We just had two mental breakdowns right there, and they were near the back of the net. You just can’t have a mental breakdown against River,

they’re just too good. (Christian Devorace) up top, he is just phenomenal, and their center-mid is just awesome. Our guys worked their butts off, though.”

Having only allowed 10 goals all season, Rocky River’s trademark defense turned it up in the second half.

“The guys have just been super solid back there all year,” Zerbey said. “A lot of confidence and they play the game together and read everything really well. David Janke, the sweeper, he just goes from side-to-side and plays the position of sweeper like few do.”

Fairview broke through with three consecutive corner kicks in the final 10 minutes, but were denied each time, including a last-minute cross that lifted Rocky River goalkeeper Connor O’Toole high in the air for the challenging save.

O’Toole finished with four saves while Donofrio snagged nine in the loss.

Brooks credited the Pirates’ defense for holding his team at bay.

“It just didn’t go,” Brooks

said. “Our strikers didn’t get the opportunities for them. The ball was played out wide for them because River’s defense was just swarming us back there. We tried to get our crosses off and they came, but the goalie can jump nine feet in the air.”

The Pirates will celebrate their district final berth, but know something much tougher looms on the horizon as they prepare for another postseason showdown with Bay.

“It’s going to be a great game,” Zerbey said. “We can kind of set our calendars by River playing Bay in the playoffs. It happens every year and we have not been able to knock them out yet. We have lost to them in every conceivable way. This year, I think we have as good a chance as we have ever had.”

Both the Rockets (13 wins) and Pirates (12 wins) have been undefeated since tying, 1-1, on Aug. 29.

The rivalry will also be renewed in girls’ soccer as the two schools meet in their district final on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at Joe Firment Chevrolet Stadium in Avon.