In their first round matchup on Saturday, Nov. 1, the Cleveland boys soccer team demolished 23 seed Glencoe 4-0 in a commanding win at home to open their OSAA playoff run.

The teams shared two common opponents throughout the regular season, Sherwood and Centennial. Centennial lost to Cleveland 5-1 but beat Glencoe 3-2. Sherwood tied with Cleveland 1-1 and beat Glencoe 3-1. In this 10 v. 23 matchup, Cleveland earned home-field advantage and went into the game as clear favorites.

After raining for most of the day, the skies cleared just in time for kickoff at 2 PM. The game began with the warriors dominating possession of the ball, as Glencoe supplied very little pressure. For the first 20 minutes of the match, the ball was kept on Glencoe’s side of the field with the warriors getting countless chances at goal, but never fully connecting.

This changed in the 21st minute, when junior Max Morrison headed the ball towards the bottom corner of the goal, where seniors Sacha Abraham and Ari Krain were in position to slide it into the back of the net. Five minutes later, junior Oscar Johnson took a free kick from outside the box that bounced off the hands of the Glencoe keeper but was promptly tapped in by sophomore striker Holland Lounsbury. To finish this quick trio of goals within a dozen minutes of each other, junior Julian Daniels finished off a Max Morrison’s cross in the 32nd minute to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead at half. 

In the second half, the Warriors played more defensively while maintaining possession. Glencoe had a couple of chances at getting goals, but senior goalkeeper Derek Puppo did not let any goals in. Eventually, Junior Mosley Campbell broke through, receiving a cross at midfield and dribbling through multiple defenders to score a top bins banger in the 60th minute. 

That goal gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead that they would maintain for the rest of the game. Following the fourth goal, PIL coach of the year Nick Yoder subbed out the starters and gave Junior Varsity/Varsity swingers minutes to finish out the game. Sophomore midfielder Clyde Mashburn made his varsity debut in the 72nd minute.

This marked the last home game that the seniors will play in the Cleveland Stadium. Morrisons’ two assists led the well-rounded stat sheet as one of the five different players contributing to goals scored. 

The Warriors advanced on to the second round of the playoffs, where they will seek revenge against seventh-seeded PIL rival Lincoln, whom they lost 0-1 to during the regular season. Due to Lincoln being a higher seed, the game will be played at Lincoln on Wednesday at 7 PM.