CANAL WINCHESTER — Circleville went on the road and shut out host Harvest Prep 6-0 Monday night.
“Going into the game we knew Harvest Prep was going to play pretty defensive minded from what we have seen from them so far this year. That can make scoring tricky and it took us a while to be able to break through and finally score,” Circleville coach Evan Callihan said. “I thought we started to possess the ball more and connect with one another in the attack which has been an emphasis for us here lately. Our defense was steady tonight and was able to quickly put a stop to any Harvest Prep attacking opportunity.”
The Tigers broke onto the scoreboard when Cailen Johnson scored off an assist from Kaden Paxton with 24:55 left in the first half. Circleville had a 2-0 lead at halftime after Anthony Wade scored from an assist from Lucas Cameron with 7:47 left on the clock.
Paxton used an assist from Wade to score six minutes into the second half.
Greyson Buckley scored with 17:43 left in the game off a penalty kick.
“Senior Greyson Buckley was able to score his first career goal for us tonight which was pretty cool to see,” Callihan said. “He’s put a lot of time into this program over the past four years and it hasn’t always been easy. Defenders never get all of the recognition they deserve stat wise, and I was proud and happy for him to be able to get in the scoring column.”
Kamale Magagi-Ali used an assist from Paxton to score with 14:39 left in the game and Kenton Phifer-Woods capped the scoring on a goal with 1:22 on the clock.
“We were able to get a lot of our guys some minutes and experience tonight, which was important,” Callihan said. “Junior Jonathon Mills provided a spark for us in the second half. Mills is one of the hardest working kids we have and one of the most coachable. He has a great attitude and will do whatever you ask him to do.
“Freshman Deyon Pyle also got to play a lot tonight. He has a lot of skill and potential and he has a bright future ahead of him for us in this program. Kenton Phifer-Woods was also able to find the back of the net scoring on a corner kick. Kenton is another one that shows up every day ready to work and I’m proud of all the hard work that he puts in every day.”
The Tigers (9-2, 3-1) host Hamilton Township (8-2-2, 3-0-1) with first place in the Mid-State League on the line.