BEACHWOOD—Beachwood’s Jaycob Zabell and Grant Keilin combined for seven goals in an 8-1 district semifinal win over visiting Fairview Park on Wednesday.
The Bison advanced to play in their fourth consecutive district championship game, taking on Andrews Osborne Academy on Saturday.
“I’m excited for the kids,” said Beachwood head coach Brian Greene. “They weren’t happy with the way we ended last year, and they have a chance to change things and rewrite history.”
Zabell drew first blood with a second-minute strike before Chris Dicken delivered a 10th-minute equalizer for Fairview.
Beachwood scored seven unanswered goals to seal their win.
“We haven’t played in two weeks and were rusty,” Greene said. “These kids need to be challenged. Tonight was great. Fairview came out and challenged us. That’s what we needed. In order to play better teams, we have to play better, and it’s not good to have a walk in the park.”
Keilin delivered a go-ahead strike in the 28th minute, with the assist coming from Zabell with 12:15 left in the half.
Zabell connected on his second score 61 seconds later before capping off a first-half hat trick in the 34th minute.
Keilin opened the second half with his second strike, then assisted Zabell on his fourth goal for a 6-1 advantage.
Keilin connected with the net for a hat trick before Collin Tew capped the night with a 69th-minute score for an 8-1 win.
Zabell’s four goals and Keilins’ hat trick served as a special moment for the two seniors.
“It’s our last home game, which gave us more motivation,” Zabell said. “Grant and I have been playing together since middle school, and we’ve built chemistry the past couple of years. We have a lot of trust in each other.”
Keilin added, “It also comes down to practice. We’re always together and on the same team. We’re always linking up in practice and working on our passing patterns. That’s what led to tonight.”
Although the Keilin/Zabell duo may have dominated, coach Greene’s squad has many strikers who can score and make a difference in a match.
“If it’s not one of them, then it’s Daniel Park scoring three goals or Asher (Gearity) scoring,” he said of his team. “We have a nice team, and it’s a privilege to coach these boys.”
Beachwood won its 16th match of the season and now can avenge last season’s 6-1 district final loss to the same Andrews Osborne squad and current defending state champion.
“We just have to keep playing like we are,” Greene said. “We played a very good Twinsburg team two weeks ago, and we played even with them for 70 minutes. They’re a very good team. Their only losses have been to St. Ignatius and Hudson, the two best teams in the state. We competed with (Twinsburg), and they hung with (Ignatius and Hudson). Every game is different, and we just have to go out there and try to win the game. We have the guys to do that.”
Fairview ended the season with an 11-5-2 record.
