FAIRFIELD — Riley Cunningham envisioned Fairfield’s Division I sectional opener against Ross to be a physical one.
It turned out to be golden.
The sophomore knocked in the game-winning goal to give the Indians a gritty 3-2 overtime victory over the Rams on Tuesday night at Christy Rose Dennis Memorial Stadium.
“We just kept pushing towards the end — just kept fighting,” Cunningham said. “That’s all we did. We did our best to keep fighting. We were just ready to win and ready to move on.”
Gavin Money sent a pass along the right sideline to Cunningham, who blasted a shot to the far-left part of the net just a minute and half into the extra period to send No. 13 Fairfield (9-8) to the second round against No. 19 Little Miami this Saturday.
It was Cunningham’s eighth goal of the season.
The last time Ross and Fairfield played was in 2016, when the Indians won 5-0.
“It’s a blast. There’s a ton of boys on Ross’ roster and a ton of boys on our roster that play club ball together,” Indians coach Christian Johnson said. “I think it added to the game atmosphere. It was intense, and the boys handled it well. I’m proud of them for pulling out an opportunity in overtime.”
Fairfield went up 2-0 in the first half on goals by seniors Isaiah Uhl and Camden Blackwell. Ross started to make its comeback when Thommy Kroeger booted one in with 15:27left before the half to cut the deficit to 2-1.
A header by Ross junior Luke Bronnert tied it up at 2-2 with 31:37 left to play, and it remained tied until Cunningham scored his golden goal.
Ross graduates 10 seniors, including Sam Davidson, Luke Dunn, Ben Rickett, Tyler Thoman, Aidan Yerkes, Sasha Kroeger, AJ Brockhaus, Landon Beske, Carter Pate and Caleb Zillich.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Rams coach Kayla Bush said. “We just wanted to lay everything out on the field, and I think we did.
“This is pretty hard. We’ve got 10 seniors who will be gone,” Bush added. “They left everything that they had, so there’s nothing to hold their heads about. We did everything that we could, and at the end of the day, I’m super proud of them.”
Brockhaus finished the season with a team-high 16 goals for Ross, which went 8-8-2 overall and 4-2-2 in its first season in the Southwestern Buckeye League.
“Coming into this, it kind of summed up our whole season,” Brockhaus said. “We’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. It’s a huge game. We knew it would be real scrappy and rough. I wouldn’t have expected much less than a fight right down to overtime.”
MIDDLETOWN 2, WITHROW 0
The No. 23 Middies (4-9-4) move on to face No. 2 St. Xavier on Saturday. Middletown has won a tournament game three out of the last four years.
SYCAMORE 3, HAMILTON 1
The Big Blue (1-13-3) saw their season end in a Division I sectional loss to the Aviators on Tuesday.
LAKOTA EAST 3, COLERAIN 0
The Thunderhawks (9-7-2) move on to face Sycamore on Saturday. Shaun Dickerson scored two goals to lead Lakota East, which has won three out of its last four.
KINGS 10, TALAWANDA 0
Drew Burdine, Ben Cyus and Aidan Thomas each scored two goals to lead the No. 12 Knights past the No. 29 Brave in a Division I sectional opener on Tuesday. Talawanda finished the season at 4-13. Kings moves on to face No. 4 Elder on Saturday.
FENWICK 6, FAYETTEVILLE 1
The Falcons (6-6-5) have won two in a row and face Cincinnati Country Day on Saturday. Luke Vendely scored goal and had an assist for Fenwick
MASON 8, EDGEWOOD 0
The Cougars saw their season end in a Division I sectional loss to the Comets. Edgewood finished 5-13.
BADIN 9, VALLEY VIEW 1
Nick Warner scored six goals — a single-game school record — and the Rams took care of the Spartans for a Division II sectional victory on Monday. No. 3 Badin (13-3-1) will face No. 11 Madison on Saturday.
CINCINNATI CHRISTIAN 2, DEER PARK 0
Senior Matias Davalos scored two goals to lead the No. 8 Cougars to a Division III sectional victory on Tuesday. Junior goalkeeper Michael Willis had four saves and the shutout for Cincinnati Christian. CCS (7-7-1), which won the Miami Valley Conference Gray Division title during the regular season, advances to face the winner of Georgetown and Clermont Northeast on Saturday.
