Beachwood’s boys’ soccer team made history with Sunday’s 3-0 win over Poland Seminary in a Division IV regional championship game.
With the win, the Bison became the first team in school history to win a regional title and advance to the state Final Four.
“It’s been an obstacle,” said Beachwood coach Brian Greene of clearing the regional championship hurdle. “I’ve been trying to overcome it for 20 years.”
As a player, Greene played in the 1984 regional championship game, but the Bison came up short. Then, as a coach, Greene led the Bison to five different regional championship games beginning in 2014, but the squad came up short each time.
Sunday was different.
Grant Keilin scored a pair of first-half goals and Colin Tew added one in the second half to seal Beachwood’s first trip to the state Final Four.
“It was everything,” Greene said of the early lead. “We always talk about getting off to a fast start and put the other team on their heels, and that’s exactly what we’ve done in pretty much every game we’ve played in this season, including the game we lost at Twinsburg. We were winning at halftime.”
With the win, the Bison improved to 19-1-2 overall and recorded their 12th shutout of the season.
The Bison have outscored their opponents 105-15.
“I always tell the guys that somebody has to stop the attack, somebody has to pass the ball, so it’s a team effort,” Greene said. “This was Josh (Rosenblitt’s) 12th shutout and he’s doing a great job in goal but it’s not just because of him. He didn’t even make a save (on Sunday).”
The Bison have relied on several key players to lead the defense including senior Kyle Bennett, a 2023 All-Ohioan, junior Nate Brecher, sophomore Jonah Greller, and junior Avi Golubitsky.
“They basically shut down the other team today,” Greene said. “Josh didn’t have to do as much work as he did against Norwayne (in the semifinals). In the previous game, Josh was spectacular. He made a couple of big saves and a PK save.”
It’s been 10 years since Green first led the Bison to the regional championship round. He finally earned his first victory in six regional final appearances.
“We should have won it 10 years ago but we lost on a fluke play that the ball got deflected off of a defender and wound up in the goal, but we had the better play that day, and sometimes that happens,” Greene said. “There have been some games where we were the losing team and the other team was the better team.”
After losing to South Range in 2014, the Bison faced some better squads in the next three regional final appearances.
Beachwood wasted little time on Sunday proving it not only belonged in the regional championship game but also had the talent and execution to win it.
“I told the boys in practice, ‘You’re the better team, but you’ve got to go out and score the goals to prove it,’” Greene said. “To be the No. 1 seed out of 49 or 50 teams in our region, and to come out as the winner is tremendous.”
The Bison will play Warsaw River View in a state semifinal game on Wednesday. The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Dover High School.
