Boys district soccer: Defending state champs Avon beat Wadsworth 1-0 in title game

ARMA — Avon is back in the Sweet 16, but it wasn't easy. Junior Brayden Carlin's 11th-minute goal gave the Eagles an early lead and Avon relied on defense and tough, physical play in the midfield, as the defending state champions kept their title defense alive with a 1-0 win over Wadsworth in a Division II Northeast district final. The second-seeded Eagles created early scoring chances but were unable to convert before Carlin hustled to a loose ball in the box and fired it past Wadsworth goalkeeper Cayden Taylor. The goal was Carlin's eighth of the year. "It's not always going to be pretty soccer in the playoffs," Avon coach Chris Dore said. "It wasn't beautiful last year, but it was exciting. The objective is scoring early and continuing to play." Avon (14-1-4) will meet North Royalton in a regional semifinal Wednesday at Brunswick High School. "There's only six players on this team that played significant minutes on last year's team, so we're trying to create our own identity," Dore said. "As much as people want to say we're the same team, we're a brand new group of players and it's special for them to win at this level." According to Carlin, Dore, who won his 250th career game in 20 seasons at Avon in the Eagles' regular-season finale, is one of the main reasons the team is ready to make a deep postseason run. "He's a great coach," Carlin said. "He's great at hyping us up, but he's also really hard on you. He's been my coach since I was five years old. I love the man. He gives us the tools. It's our job to apply the tools he gives us to succeed." Eagles goalkeeper Owen Huron only had to make three saves, but the final one proved crucial when in the 63rd minute he leapt to his left to deflect an Evan Johnston shot that appeared headed to the upper-left hand corner of the net to keep the 12th-seeded Grizzlies off the board. The game was played primarily in the center of the field. There were just five corner kicks, three of which were awarded to Avon. Wadsworth, which had only conceded one goal in its previous four games, ended the year with a 10-4-5 record. "We played the defending state champions. They are very tactical and technically smart and our boys competed with them," Grizzles coach John Johnson said. "We had a couple of chances and my keeper made a couple of good saves." It was the 11th shutout posted this year by Huron and Avon. "If we can score early and find the right type of chemistry to control the game like we normally do, I feel like we'll have a good advantage going into future games," Dore said. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.