Photos courtesy Nicholas Studios
A 16-14 win over Fenwick Thursday night pushed the Bellbrook Golden Eagles onto the Division II state tournament.
The Eagles (13-3) will face DeSales – a 14-13 winner over Bishop Watterson in the Regional Final – on June 5 at 7 p.m. at Chaminade-Julienne’s Roger Glass Stadium.
Bellbrook took a commanding lead during its Regional Final, up 12-6 midway through the third, but Fenwick fought back before a late goal by Logan Mozingo gave the Eagles breathing room.
“He’s the guy who starts everything on offense,” Bellbrook coach Vince Molseed said. “He’s the guy who finds a way to make it happen. Logan got the ball and found a way to get through the defense and score. He’s a guy we look to.”
Mozingo is the team leader in goals with 45. Gavin McConnell is second with 42. McConnell set the single-game record with 10 goals in a game earlier this season. Carter Colfack is next on the team with 34.
Molseed said the story of the season really began a few weeks ago after a tough loss to Mariemont. As most good teams know, more lessons can be learned from losses than from wins.
“The story of the season is really what we’ve done in the last week or two,” he said. “The kids have really come together. It was our last loss at Mariemont. We didn’t play well. They made us look bad. The kids were frustrated. The coaches were frustrated. No one was taking personal accountability for how we were playing. We had a lot of conversations about picking each other up.
“If someone makes a mistake, we don’t yell at them. We have to just dig in and do a bit more. Everyone gives a bit more. One of the things I told them is that if we have 25 guys working together, we can’t lose. Since then, we’ve really had a sense of togetherness and dialed it in. We’ve worked together and that’s what’s gotten us through those last two games – they’ve been tough.”
Those last two games were the 16-14 win over Fenwick in the regional title game, and avenging their loss to Mariemont, 9-7 in the Regional semifinal.
Molseed said the captains have been a huge factor in the team’s recent success and each of them compliment one another.
The coach said Jacob Umina is their fiery leader while Mozingo is the one they look to get them started offensively. Cody Koverman and Parker Samborsky are consistent, even-keeled hard workers who lead by example.
Molseed said against DeSales on Wednesday, the Eagles will have to bring their A game.
“We’ve played them in the past in the playoffs and they were what we expected them to be,” he said. “They are a good team.
“For us to win, we are going to have to be at our best. We have a very talented group of kids and we knew from the outset coming into this season. The question was never ‘do we have talent to compete?’ It was ‘do we have the teamwork and the heart?’
“The past few games demonstrated that and then some.”