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Big Red hands Tigers their first loss since August

By Jordan Holland 4 min read

DEVOLA -- Steubenville scored twice in the first four minutes to set the tone early, and the Big Red left town with a 2-0 win over Marietta on Tuesday at Jerry Brock Field.

Chase Beall's throw-in from the corner was met by teammate Landon Bowers, who headed it in just 60 seconds into the match. Then, with 36:24 on the clock, Beall did it himself as his corner kick bent toward the goal and deflected off MHS keeper Finn Tindall to make it 2-0.

"Goals change matches," said Marietta head coach Todd Morris. "To fall behind 1-0 60 seconds in and then 2-0 (four) minutes in, that's a tough hole to battle out of. After that, I thought we kind of had the better of the run of play -- just couldn't find the back of the net. Steubenville, they're a quality opponent, and that's been our schedule this year. Just a brutal schedule. Only our second loss of the year. We'll try to learn from it."

Marietta hadn't lost since a 2-1 setback to Wheeling Park on Aug. 27. Since then, the Tigers have claimed five victories and four draws, with Tuesday's defeat putting their record at 6-2-6.

"The energy was great and I thought the effort was fantastic," Morris said. "We're still looking for whatever combination it's going to be in the final third, that last ball, that last pass to get us in -- just someone to score some goals. We've been kind of struggling to find the back of the net. We're going to keep working. I thought we were solid and we were creating chances, just a matter of creating some luck, too."

Steubenville improved to 11-3-1 on the year. JJ Lamantia saved all eight of Marietta's shots on goal to earn the clean sheet.

"We got off the bus ready to go," said Big Red head coach Greg Bowers. "You kind of wonder after an hour-and-45-minute bus ride what you're going to respond like, and we came out quick and got a couple goals early. That's a really good team we just beat."

As Morris said, the Tigers had chances.

With 29 minutes left in the first half, Carson Hamilton's free kick hit off the cross bar. Cole Bergin gathered the carom, but his follow-up shot went a little wide left.

Marietta continued battling throughout the match and finally found the back of the net with 5:15 to go in the second half, but the officials ruled a Marietta player fouled Lamantia and waved off the goal.

"That would have been huge to get back in it," Morris said.

The Tigers finished with six corner kicks to Steubenville's five. The Big Red put seven shots on frame, with MHS keeper Finn Tindall stopping five of them, including an impressive diving save just before halftime.

"Hard fought game," Bowers said. "We made just enough plays to get out of here with a win."

Steubenville has two regular season matches remaining, with a home bout against Edison set for noon Saturday.

"We were looking for a tournament atmosphere like this," Bowers said. "You go on the road and you play a tough team -- this was all that we wanted. We saw a lot of maturity out of this young group. We only have two seniors in our lineup, so for some of these freshmen and sophomores, this is a big win for them and for our team."

Marietta gets Belpre at home Thursday and has two more home matches after that before the postseason begins. The Tigers will focus on generating more offense in the meantime.

"Continuing to go to training and work on what we want to do in the final third," Morris said. "Hopefully it translates to the game field."

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.

At Jerry Brock Field

Steubenville 2, Marietta 0

S (10-3-1) 2 0 -- 2

M (6-1-6) 0 0 -- 0

S: Landon Bowers, Chase Beall assist, 1st minute

S: Beall, corner kick, 4th minute

Team stats

Shots on goal: S: 7; M: 8; Keeper saves: S: JJ Lamantia 8; M: Finn Tindall 5; Corner kicks: S: 5; M: 6

Next matches: Edison at Steubenville, noon Saturday; Belpre at Marietta, 6 p.m. Thursday

Starting at /week.