Boys sectional soccer: Columbia cruises to win over Jackson-Milton

COLUMBIA — Columbia cruised through to the next round of the playoffs Monday with a comfortable 4-1 win over Jackson-Milton. Playing without Lorain County League scoring leader Jack Washburn, who was serving the second game of a two-game suspension after his red card nine days ago against Wellington, the Raiders struggled to find the net in the first half. Haroon Shakib, who ranks eighth in the conference in goals, broke the deadlock 10 minutes in, but outside of that, the first half was full of missed chances for Columbia. "We could have scored at least two or three more tonight," Columbia coach Frank Washburn said. "We were playing with fire a little bit in the first half." In the second half, however, the Raiders got things going, taking a 2-0 lead just six minutes in when John Bodo got on the end of Shakib's crossing pass and headed it home. "I just told them they had to take their chances seriously," Washburn said. "I've been doing this a long time, so going into the second half, I told them we have to have that second goal. Once we got the second one, you could see the tide change." Bodo was far from done after putting Columbia up 2-0, and 22 minutes after his first goal, he picked up the ball on the edge of the box and found the far corner with his right foot to make it 3-0. "It honestly felt great," Bodo said. "I missed some chances in the first half, but I was really happy I was able to get some in the back of the net in the second half." Shakib assisted Bodo one more time two minutes later with a layoff at the edge of the box that Bodo curled into the bottom corner, this time with his left foot, completing his hat trick. "We definitely started a little slow, but we got ourselves together," Bodo said. "It's definitely hard playing without your leading goal scorer, but we found a way to make it work." Jack Washburn has 25 goals and 11 assists this season, so he was a significant presence missing from Columbia's attack, not only for his goal contributions, but also the way he combines with Shakib and Bodo. The two members of that trio who were playing, however, showed why they have combined for 26 goals and 19 assists themselves, stepping up in Washburn's absence. "Haroon, Jack, and John have really had a nice little triangle all year," Frank Washburn said. "They got serious in the second half and they put it away, so it was nice." While Columbia will undoubtedly need Washburn to progress past No. 3-seeded Rootstown in the next round, the two games without him provided vital experience for the rest of the roster, as well as getting him some much-needed rest. "I think it will help a lot," Frank Washburn said. "He'll be fresh coming back, and those guys are on a roll right now, so hopefully we'll be able to get a win against Rootstown." Contact Will Cunningham at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Columbia 4, Jackson-Milton 1 GOALS: (JM) Ben Bacorn (74th minute); (C) Haroon Shakib (10th minute), John Bodo (44th minute, 66th minute, 68th minute). ASSISTS: (C) Haroon Shakib 2. SAVES: (JM) Gavin Murphy 7; (C) Evan Joreski 1. SHOTS ON GOAL: Jackson-Milton 3; Columbia 11. FOULS: Jackson-Milton 3; Columbia 2. CORNER KICKS: Jackson-Milton 1; Columbia 5. OFFSIDE: Jackson-Milton 0; Columbia 1. HALFTIME: Columbia, 1-0.