ON THE PITCH — Steubenville Catholic Central’s Brendan Kuebler and Linsly’s Giacomo Resnatti fight for possession of the ball during Wednesday’s game. - Mike Hughes

TRIADELPHIA — Catholic Central is in the midst of having a strong season.

The Crusaders earned the No. 3 seed for their efforts in the Eastern District Division III tournament.

They’ve faced some skilled teams and some tough teams, and teams with speed. But what head coach Steve Kopcha and his Crusaders ran into Wednesday was a different animal altogether.

Linsly broke open a 1-0 match early in the second half and never looked back in besting Catholic Central 6-0 on a mild night on the hilltop at the Highlands Sports Complex in Triadelphia.

Catholic Central managed only three shots at Cadets’ keeper Kenzo Lasa,and only one of those could be termed legit.

“They are extremely talented, both as individuals and how they play as a group,” Kopcha said. “We had one good chance in the second half and were unable to capitalize, and within a couple of minutes, they scored two more goals and put it out of reach and continued to possess the ball.”

When asked how often his team faces an opponent with that amount of speed across the board, Kopcha’s answer was simple–“You don’t. They are the exception.”

Despite being outshot 26-3, Linsly led only 1-0 after the first 40 minutes. Finishing, or difficulty in doing so, has plagued the Cadets all season, despite their 10-3-3 record.

Possession isn’t a problem. Shot attempts aren’t a problem. It’s just that whole finishing thing that causes issues.

“Truthfully, that’s been the story of our season,” Linsly head coach Greg Martin admitted. “In most of our matches, we’ve had possession and created chances, but we’ve struggled to put goals away.

“That was my message at half that we’re creating enough, it was just who was going to take responsibility and put it in the net.

“I think the message sank in and we came out a little more motivated.”

Crusaders’ keeper Tom Baillargeon had a hand early in keeper the Cadets relatively at bay.

Linsly sent 10 shots at the CCHS keeper in the first half. He turned away nine.

In total Baillargeon finished with 20 saves, but it was difficult to maintain that pace against the seemingly unending barrage of shots.

“He’s a fantastic goalie, but you can only do so much against the amount of shots he was facing,” Kopcha said. “He kept us in it for as long as he could, but he was under pressure, under fire all night.”

Oscar Sundell struck first for Linsly, weaving his way through traffic before angled a hard ball just far enough away where Baillargeon couldn’t react to reach it.

Sundell added two more in the second half, with Lucas Andreas, Allesandro Cimigotto and Francisco Camps tacking on the final goal.

What began as a 1-0 match to start the second half quickly devolved into a 4-1 deficit for the visitors by the time Andreas struck again with 32:41 left.

The Cadets were coming of f a tough 3-0 loss to Spiro Academy in Genoa, Ohio and will now head to the Eastern Panhandle on Friday for a weekend doubleheader–Washington on Friday in Charlestown and a match up with Jefferson Saturday afternoon to end the season.

“We like to play a challenging schedule,” Martins said. “We played up at Spiro Academy near Cleveland (Tuesday) night and you want to talk about talented. We barely got a touch on the ball.”

Steubenville Catholic, meanwhile, will face Magnolia at New Martinsville on Thursday before entering the postseason. The Crusaders will face the winner of Tuesday’s West Muskingum and Harrison Central match up on Thursday.