River Valley beats the rain, Marion Harding in Futbol Friday Night boys soccer match

MARION — River Valley was good during the Friday Night Futbol season opener at Marion Harding, winning convincingly at 8-4, but good won't be enough in the eyes of head coach Joel Richards.

"We're going to get better as the season goes on," he said. "I've been spoiled here, so when I look up to see 8-4, I've got to look at the 8, and that's good. But the 4, when we start playing Ontario and London, we've got to clean that up, and that's what I told them."

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The Vikings have a quick turnaround as they host London on Tuesday, then they get a week to prepare for the best team in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference. Ontario, which has won seven MOAC title in a row, comes to RV on Aug. 27.

"We're good. We're not where we want to be in October. If we can just keep getting better, that's it, and we will," Richards said.

Here are three things to know from Friday Night Futbol, the state's annual kickoff to the soccer season, as it happened in Marion:

1. Rain, rain go away

This has long been a Marion County tradition as River Valley and Harding play each other to start the soccer year, and they do it as a doubleheader with the boys and girls varsity teams being showcased.

The boys started at 5 p.m. and just beat the storm as it hit less than 10 minutes after its completion. The girls match, slated for 7 p.m., never started as lighting in the thunderstorm during warmups forced everyone off the field and out of the stadium. The referees called it off at around 8 p.m. No details were available as to when the girls will reschedule the contest.

2. RV showed diversity in offense

The Vikes led 4-1 at halftime as Wyatt Lawhun, Christian Knight, Hudson Pollock and Gideon Owings all made goals for RV.

"That's what we've been shooting for," Richards said. "I want Christian and Hudson to lead the team. It's always a struggle when you become that senior and you are the leadership, but I have good leaders."

Pollock broke away four minutes into the second half for a goal, then made it a hat trick with 26:50 left. Later in the 17th minute of the half, Riley Hummel and Owings scored within 44 seconds of each other to put the match away at 8-2.

3. Harding looks improved

The Presidents won just one match in each of the last two years, but they showed promise of better days ahead. That's what first-year head coach Ian Hartley was talking about in the preseason.

"Turning a culture around that has won two games and has 34 losses in the last two season, losing is part of the identity of the program in its recent history," he said before the start of the season. "Learning to win isn't necessarily easy, even with the influx of young talent. It is going to take time to get these young men the confidence they need. They have shown tremendous growth through our summer training program."

Harding senior Jackson Shipley recorded a hat trick to match Pollock, getting a goal in the first half and two more in the second.

"When he has the ball on his foot, he'll score," Richards said of Shipley. "That showed tonight that he's one of the best players in our conference for a reason."

Harding freshman Harrison Keith got one to go right after the Viking flurry of scoring in the second half.

"That's one of the best Harding teams I've seen in four or five years at least," Richards said. "We knew it was a tougher opponent. They've got a lot of freshmen who played a lot of club (soccer in the offseason), so they are good."

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: River Valley beats the rain, Marion Harding in Futbol Friday Night boys soccer match