INDEPENDENCE — Independence found its spark on Tuesday night, and it came in the form of Jackson Scarcella. The junior striker put on a show, scoring three goals and adding two assists as the Blue Devils stormed past Trinity, 7-1, in a Chagrin Valley Conference Metro Division clash.
“It’s pretty amazing. I loved it,” Scarcella said. “I didn’t play well on Saturday, so I wanted to step up here.”
Trinity struck first when Lucci Hamilton slipped through the defense and buried a breakaway just five minutes in. But that only seemed to light a fire under Independence.
Scarcella buried a penalty in the 18th minute to even the score, and the Blue Devils never looked back. Nine minutes later, Jamie Panichi rose to meet a ball in the box, flicking it with a header to set up Tommy Misso, who powered home the go-ahead strike. Independence carried a 2-1 lead into halftime.
The Blue Devils turned the second half into a statement. Scarcella delivered a pinpoint free kick that Panichi finished with another header for a 3-1 cushion. Then Scarcella went to work, completing his hat trick in a dazzling two-minute span with back-to-back set-piece finishes in the 64th and 65th minutes, ballooning the lead to 5-1.
Victor Walchanowicz tacked on another in the 68th, and Troy Snyder sealed the rout with a goal in the final minute.
The performance was exactly what Independence needed after a tough loss over the weekend and a grueling practice on Monday.
“I’m really proud of how they responded,” said Independence head coach Brien McDonald. “Tonight, other than that one lapse, everyone on the field played as hard as they could, and they put in a much harder effort. When the reserves come in, they know they have to match that, and the team worked as hard as they had to. And that’s what it takes to get a goal, a tie, and a win.”
With just five games left in the regular season, the Blue Devils may be hitting their stride at the perfect time.
“We made some personnel and formation changes from Saturday, and that was a big improvement,” McDonald said. “We need to get on a winning streak. We’d get a win but then have a setback because we didn’t play well or just played a better team. It’s our first conference win, and we hope we can get on a winning streak, because that’s what we need.”
For Trinity, the night began with promise but unraveled quickly.
“We made a couple of big mistakes,” said Trinity head coach Mario Gerhardt. “We have a problem sometimes of getting people to practice, and we get all mixed up.”
Gerhardt noted that, like Independence, his team is still learning.
“We didn’t play as a team today. We win and lose as a team,” he said. “Our skill level is not where it’s supposed to be, but we’re working on it and getting better. It’s a team game, and we have ten field players and a goalkeeper who have to make the (improvement) happen.”
Independence (now with momentum on its side) hosts Wickliffe on Sept. 25, while Trinity (5-5) looks to bounce back the same day against Fairview.
