United’s Jude Andrea chases after the ball with Kidron Central Christian’s Carson Hostetler on Wednesday in a Div. V regional semifinal at Copley High School. (Photo by Ron Firth)

COPLEY — United fell behind by two goals in the second half and staged a furious rally late that came up just short in a tough 2-1 setback to Kidron Central Christian in a Div. V regional boys’ soccer semifinal on Wednesday at Copley Stadium.

“I think it was a tale of two halves,” United head coach Curtis Jones said. “(The Comets) scored in both halves, they got the best of us in the first half, but most of that second half was us.”

“(The Golden Eagles) have some special players and we knew that coming in and had a game plan for it, and I thought the guys did well,” Kidron Central Christian head coach Alex Steiner stated. “I’m proud of our back line, I’m proud of each and every one of them for their communication, their effort and their energy. I just thought they handled themselves really well tonight and a lot of kudos to them against a phenomenal player (in United’s Maddox Andrea). He’s very, very talented.”

The tough setback concluded an outstanding 17-3 season for the Golden Eagles, led by their six seniors who were the first class in United history to play in four district title games and two regionals.

“It was about little things,” the United coach said. “We knew it was going to be physical, they’re a great team and we play them in the regular season every year. It’s the second time we’ve played them in the regional semifinals and we played them once in a district final. They’ve beaten us both times in the regional semis and we beat them two years ago in the district finals, so we know each other well, and we knew it was going to be a strategic battle.”

Kidron Central, which has qualified for the regional in 10 of the past 11 seasons, advanced to Saturday’s D5 regional title game at Streetsboro at noon against Lake Center Christian which ousted Rootstown 3-0 Wednesday in the other regional semifinal.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve been to state and we’ll figure out who we’re playing (in the regional final) and we’ll get prepared for the next one and try and give ourselves a shot to get back there,” Steiner said.

Both the Golden Eagles and Comets put on a defensive clinic in which goals were hard to come by. But the Comets broke through with just 3:09 showing before halftime when sophomore Ezra Coleman scored a goal.

“They got one at the end of the first half, we had an injury that forced us to make some changes on the field and we had to shift some things around and the aftermath of that is they got that quick one and went into the half up 1-0,” Jones said.

The Comets then took a momentum-building 2-0 advantage when senior Aaron Miedel tailed a goal from the left flank at the 38:08 mark of the second half.

“We often talk about the second goal being the most important,” Steiner said. “because it leads to momentum and drives up into the remainder of the game, so finding that one was a big deal. We had some good chances to get a third and put it away, but we just didn’t do it tonight, so we ended up getting into a real fight and really feel like we were hanging on late in the game.”

“A 2-0 lead is usually considered one of the most dangerous leads because you’re leading by just enough you kind of take your foot off the brakes a little bit and it can go either way,” Jones said. “It was unfortunate we were down by two because we had to push a little bit earlier than we wanted to. We had a plan to put them under a little more pressure and keep a clean sheet for that first 10 minutes of the second half and they scored three or four minutes in.”

As the second half progressed, United began to control the action and the momentum of the match completely shifted to the Golden Eagles when star Maddox Andrea rifled a short goal into the right side of the net with just 13:04 left. It pulled the Golden Eagles to within 2-1 as their large following which made the trip to Copley erupted.

The Golden Eagles had a corner kick and several nice offensive attacks in the remaining time, including a penalty kick by Andrea from 25 yards out on the left side with 48 seconds remaining, but the shot was blocked and the Comets sweated out the final seconds as United mounted one last scoring attempt which came up short.

“A lot of times I say sports is chess with the ball,” said Jones. “(Steiner) makes adjustments and I make adjustments and it’s a little bit of back and forth. It’s not like in other sports where we can call in plays. It’s always a Chess match when we play them and they came out on top tonight.”

Both teams finished with nine shots on goal.

United goalkeeper Seth Blake had eight saves and Kidron Central keeper Bryan Martin finished with seven saves.

Jones praised his six seniors who enjoyed record-setting success in their United careers. The seniors include Maddox Andrea, Landon Jones, Mikey Logan, Luke Mercer, Jase Medure and Zac Figley.

Andrea concluded a star-filled career at United in which he shattered the record for career goals with over 170. He also tied the school’s single-season record for goals Wednesday with his 55h of the season. He now shares that record with Jonathan Logan who had 55 goals in 2017.

“He (Andrea) has got a lot of colleges looking at him, I don’t know if he’s made up his mind where he wants to go,” Jones said.

The United coach knows the graduating seniors on the team were truly golden for the Golden Eagles.

“I’ve coached these boys, many of them since they were 8 and 9 years old, so I’ve watched the journey and my son is one of those players, so I’ve just been honored and privileged to have coached them for so long and see their growth,” said the United head coach. “They’re not just phenomenal soccer players, but young men and they’ve left such a great legacy. They will be the first graduating class to play in four district championships (and two regionals).”