By Matt Zircher

Sports Writer

SPRINGBORO — It took just over 106 minutes to decide it, but Shelby County has its first-ever district champion in boys soccer.

Lehman accomplished the feat here Saturday night as after both the Cavaliers and Yellow Springs scored early goals, neither scored until Bryan McDonagh knocked in a throw-in pass from Adam Freytag for a 2-1 win over the Bulldogs in double overtime in the Division III district finals.

Lehman opened the scoring just 1:18 into the contest as Andrew Elsner connected on a 22-yard direct kick from the left past Bulldog goalkeeper Jake Trumbull.

“Andrew just drilled it,” said Lehman coach Tony Schroeder. “Yellow Springs fouled Mike McMahon, so we got a direct kick off it and Elsner took advantage. He works on that shot a lot and he nearly had another goal in the second half.”

The Bulldogs answered right back six minutes later on a goal by Alexis Onfroy and controlled play throughout the remainder of the first half. But the game remained tied at 1-1 thanks to the Cavalier defense and goalkeeper Dan Westerheide.

Both teams had opportunities to break the deadlock in the second half, but neither team could score. A shot by Onfroy with 29 minutes remaining went wide left and a McMahon direct header at the 16:50 mark was knocked down.

The Cavaliers appeared to have regained the lead with 5:40 left in regulation as a shot from the center of the field by Elsner was deflected to the right by a diving Trumbull. Lehman had another attempt on the play, but the shot went wide to the side of the net.

“Andrew had a great direct shot, but the goalkeeper made a great save,” said Schroeder. “We were in position on the rebound, but the shot went wide.”

After a scoreless first overtime period, the game appeared headed to a decisive shootout until the 8:41 mark of the second overtime, when Freytag’s throw-in from the left side found McDonagh, who scored the game-winner.

“It’s a play we work on in practice,” said Schroeder. “We have a player in front of the goalkeeper and have another player running in. It’s supposed to go to the player running in, but we have a player in front of the goalkeeper just in case, and it worked out for us.”

The Bulldogs finished with 20 shots overall, but only five in the second half, as Westerheide recorded 16 saves. Lehman had 11 shots with Trumbull notching eight saves.

“Yellow Springs controlled the first half, but we made some adjustments at halftime,” said Schroeder. “We weren’t getting to the 50-50 balls in the first half, but we did so after that and I felt like we controlled the play in the second half and in the overtimes.

“Our defense really stepped it up in the second half,” added the Lehman coach. “Adam Cavinder played well and our other fullback, Taylor Watkins, did well on the other outside.”

The Cavaliers, now 15-3-1 on the season, advance to the regional semifinals Tuesday at 7 against Summit Country Day at Hamilton High School. The regional finals are set for Saturday at 3, also at Hamilton.

Yellow Springs, who was the regional runner-up last season and had defeated defending state champion Springfield Catholic in the sectional finals, finishes at 13-4-3, two of those losses coming to Lehman.

“We’re real excited about bringing the first district championship back to Shelby County,” said Schroeder. “This is just our fifth year, but we’ve gained a lot of experience from being in the district finals last season and with the schedule we played.”

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