Baxter nets five as Vermilion cruises in sectional final

A hat trick is often seen as a special accomplishment in soccer. Achieving one in the first half? Now that’s extra special. Vermilion junior Riley Baxter checked that off his list as he finished with a career-high five goals, helping the No. 2 Sailors throttle sixth-seeded Clear Fork, 7-0, in a Division II Lexington District sectional final at Vermilion on Oct. 17.

The Sailors (14-1-1) will host Mansfield Senior or Ontario on Oct 22 at 7 p.m.

Baxter tallied goals in the 1st, 38th, 39th, 43rd and 59th minute as he dominated the Colts (8-9-1) defense with nifty moves and an elusive acceleration that left him with a pair of wide open shots into the back of the net.

It was the perfect start to what Baxter hopes will be a postseason to remember.

“I just want to help my team,” Baxter said. “I just want to go far in the tournament. Our goal is to win state, and that is my goal too, so I’m just helping push this team forward to win and to try to win state.”

Vermilion coach Kurt Innes was not surprised to see Baxter have a memorable night.

“Riley is a very good player,” Innes said. “He has stepped up tremendously this year, not only tonight but he is also filling shoes of a very good player that we graduated last year in Zack Kelly. He has done an outstanding

job, and I’m very proud of his performance tonight and the performances he has put in this year with his hard work and dedication.”

The Sandusky Bay Conference champions wasted little time as senior Sam Dewey cut off the Colts’ attack at midfield in the 1st minute. The aggressive play paid dividends as he kicked it out to a waiting Baxter, who did the rest with some swift moves and a boot into the back of the net.

Baxter felt the quickstrike goal was key to how the night played out.

“Getting early goals in the playoffs is really important,” he said. “It gets momentum on your side, and you know, just kind of gets the cat out of the bag and you can keep going with it.” Innes agreed. “That’s a big goal,” Innes said. “We have done that several times this year with scoring fast. It kind of just gives us momentum and we can keep feeding off it. It was a huge goal.”

With their offense thriving, the Sailors’ defense reigned throughout the night, cutting off nearly all of Clear Forks offense at the middle of the field.

It was the kind of aggression Innes was looking for now that the postseason is upon them.

“We have a very strong back line,” Innes said. “Those four in the back, Brandon Binder, James Matheson, Gus Matheson, Ryan Bodeker and Ryan Habermehl in goal, this is like their twelfth shutout this year. It was a group effort. They’re all very solid defenders.”

The Sailors struck again in the 22nd minute with an assist from Issac Lindo to a cutting Brandon Binder for the score, increasing the lead to 2-0.

After notching his second goal in the 38th minute, Baxter was quickly gifted with a pass across the field from Logan Penton as he powered home a kick past Clear Fork goalkeeper Jordan Merendino to notch the illusive firsthalf hat trick and give the Sailors a 4-0 lead with 25 seconds to spare.

Baxter credited his defense for helping him achieve the memorable feat.

“They’re a solid back line, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Baxter said. “They always get the ball up top to give me the opportunities, so big credit to them.”

Baxter picked up right where he left off in the 43rd minute, taking off down the sidelines for an easy score as he tricked the goalkeeper with a swift move, eventually sailing it right past for the score.

Clear Fork made progress on the stingy Vermilion defense in the second-half, but wound up on the wrong side of the goal after a scrum in front of the keeper saw an own goal from junior Jacob Shenberger in the 53rd

“Getting early goals in the playoffs is really important. It gets momentum on your side, and you know, just kind of gets the cat out of the bag and you can keep going with it.”

— Vermilion junior Riley Baxster

minute.

With his team trailing 6-0 minutes into the second half, it was a tough reality check for Colts coach Nate Gailey.

“Yeah, they did a good job cutting us off in the midfield,” Gailey said. “I was proud of our guys though because I think we possessed the ball more in the first half then they did. We got beat a little bit up the middle and they were able to break us down a bit and take advantage of it.”

Gailey looked at the shutout loss as a learning experience for his maturing team.

“I was proud of how our guys worked,” Gailey said. “We’re a very young team. We start a lot of freshman and sophomores. It was a great experience for them. But hats off to this team. We knew we were playing the two seed, they definitely earned it this year.”