READY — Catholic Central’s Michael Rechen gets ready to make a pass during Wednesday’s Division III sectional final. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

STEUBENVILLE — First step complete.

Tom Beigel tallied a hat trick to lead the third-seeded Catholic Central boys soccer team to a 3-0 victory against seventh-seeded Sandy Valley in an Ohio Division III Eastern District sectional final Wednesday at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

“Both teams were pretty competitive, and we were both evenly matched,” Catholic Central head coach Steve Kopcha said. “We were able to possess the ball, and we were able to create chances. Tom did a good job of finishing, and Kolbe (Rice) sent him two nice passes. We were able to create opportunities, and we were able to take advantage of them.”

The sectional title is the third title the Crusaders have won this season.

“We had a good idea of what to expect from them,” Sandy Valley (11-4-1) head coach Daniel O’Callaghan said. “We had never played them before. We were in it for the first 20 or 25 minutes. Once they got that first goal, it took the wind out of our sails. They were able to get the ball behind our back line. They were able to create opportunities behind our defense. We were not able to get behind them. They were more aggressive and more physical as well.”

The Crusaders (12-3-1) begin their run at a district title against top-seeded Berlin Hiland on Tuesday. The time and place are yet to be determined. Hiland blanked Edison, 12-0, on Wednesday.

“It has been a few years since we have played them,” Kopcha said. “Hiland plays a tough schedule. They are ranked in the top 10. It is going to be a challenge for us. They are a very skilled team. They possess the ball a lot. We are going to have to come out ready to play.”

The Hawks are ranked 10th in the state.

Rice recorded two assists for Catholic Central, while Beigel’s third goal was unassisted. Travis Shore made five saves in goal.

“They handled playing on this field better than we did,” O’Callaghan said. “They were able to play the ball behind our back line, while we played in front of their back line. They were able to take advantage of things more in the final third of the field.”

Caleb Everetts made five saves for the Cardinals.

“We knew they were a good team,” Kopcha said. “We had some common opponents. I looked at the scores to see how they did. This was our first time playing them. I was impressed with them. I knew they were going to come to play today. They played hard.”

Beigel scored on a header off of a cross from Rice to account for the lone goal of the first half.

“We always try to score the first goal,” Kopcha said. “You want to play with the lead. It is easier to play with the lead. We didn’t want to relax. We wanted to continue to apply pressure. Coming into the game, we did not think one goal was going to be enough. It turned out to be enough, but we wanted to continue to put pressure on them.”

The junior recorded a pair of goals in the second half.

The Crusaders were able to break through the Cardinals defense, and were able to create more chances than Sandy Valley, though Shore made a couple of big saves against Jamon McCort.

“That is a credit to our kids,” Kopcha said about his team’s ability to get the ball behind the Sandy Valley defense. “We were able to win balls and keep possession. We did a better job of that in the second half. We were losing the balls in the first half. In the second half, we were able to win the 50-50 balls and get the loose balls to keep possession, and we were able to create opportunities from doing that.”

The Cardinals will return most of their team next year.

“We had a great year,” O’Callaghan said. “This is our best record ever. We were 11-3-1 to end the regular season. We have guys up for all-Ohio and all-district. I hope they get those honors because they deserve them. We are only losing three seniors. We will have six juniors coming back next year. We are going to have big expectations. We are going to learn from this.”