Beachwood topped Kinsman Badger 2-1 on Saturday to defend the district title it won in 2022.
The Bison, who improved to 18-2 on the year, have now won four district championships since the 2014 season.
“I didn’t feel that we played particularly well,” said Beachwood coach Brian Greene. “The physicalness they brought to the game, and the loose enforcement of the rules, made it very difficult.
The Bison may have struggled to match Badger’s physicality, but the Bison maintained a technical advantage and took a 1-0 lead on Jaycob Zabell’s header with 32:49 remaining in the first half.Beach
Badger scored the equalizer 10 minutes later and both sides settled for a 1-1 draw at halftime.
Daniel Park changed that with 30:20 remaining in regulation and the Bison defense held off the Braves the rest of the way.
“They played a very high line and just tried to counter,” Greene said of the Braves. “We changed our shape at halftime a little bit to deal with that because we got called offsides more than a handful of times. I just told them that in order to beat the trap with the dribble to play the ball to the wide midfielders and that seemed to really settle us down.”
With a fourth trip to the regional tournament in the past decade, the Bison now look to take the next step after their previous regional tournament appearances resulted in a runner-up finish.
First up, the Bison will play league rival Independence in a regional semifinal at Tallmadge on Wednesday.
Beachwood beat the Blue Devils during the regular season, 2-0, but Greene won’t lean too much on that previous result.
“It’s the playoffs, so the team we played during the season isn’t going to be the same team that we play (on Wednesday),” he said. “First, there’s more risk, and Independence is an older team. They’re mostly a senior-dominated team and they’re going to play very disciplined. We know their players and they know our players, so it should be a good match.”
