Johnson's hat trick lifts Pioneers over Lions

• Junior captain Holden Johnson scored three first half goals, Monday, in a win over Fairfield.
• The Pioneers earned their eighth win in 2015 with a 4-1 decision over Leesburg Fairfield.

KINNIKINNICK — Mama, there goes that man again.

From the opening kickoff, Zane Trace junior captain Holden Johnson made it known he was taking no prisoners Monday night against Leesburg Fairfield.

The Pioneers' striker scored not once, not twice, but three times in a 4-1 win over the Lions at Zane Trace High School — adding yet another hat trick to his already impressive 2015 resume.

"(Holden) brings fire to this team," Zane Trace coach Geoff Givan said. "He plays with a lot of passion and holds himself accountable. He wants to play well at all times. In general, he just brings this team up. He's a good leader."

While Johnson was scoring goals and taking names, teammate Darby Pillow was doing his usual as well. Just like he has done all year long, Pillow dominated the middle of the field and outran, out-hustled and outworked his defenders.

"Darby does all of the things that you don't see on the stat sheet at the end of the night," Givan said. "He hustles, he's a captain and he's everywhere. He probably runs 6 miles every single game, and you can't replace work ethic like that. The other kids see that, and they want to emulate it. It really helps our team."

Johnson started the scoring nine minutes into the game after dribbling the ball to the right side of the net and finding the back of the goal with a cross-shot, giving Zane Trace a 1-0 lead.

With 21:27 left in the first half, Johnson struck again thanks to an assist from Dalton Vollmar, making it 2-0.

And why fix something if it isn't broke?

Realizing that Johnson had the hot hand, the Pioneers (8-3-2) fed him the ball once more with 15:54 left before halftime for another score, extending their lead to 3-0.

After the break, Pillow gave Johnson some company on the scoreboard with a goal of his own — thanks to an assist from Johnson — at the 34:08 mark, making it 4-0 in the Pioneers' favor.

The Lions (1-8-2) finally got on the board with 9:18 left in regulation when Jesse Current hit the back of the net, but not before the Pioneers had taken most of their starting lineup out of the game.

With a shutout for 70-plus minutes, Givan was happy with the defensive effort.

"(Sophomore) Carter Groff-Tolbert is my anchor on the defensive side of things," Givan said. "He's our sweeper, he's a leader and he's gotten us out of so many jams this year that it's incredible. He's had two saves as a defender without even being a keeper. But he really does anchor our defense back there along with (sophomore) Zach Wooten as our stopper. They both work together well and are a good tandem. They interchange throughout the course of the game."

In total, the Pioneers sent a barrage of shots at Fairfield's net with 23 shots on goal, compared with the Lions' mark of just 10.

Zane Trace will face West Union, next week, before heading into tournament play. The Pioneers do, however, have some high expectations to live up to after last year's postseason run that ended with a 4-0 loss to Zanesville's Bishop Rosecrans in a Division III regional semifinal.

This year's tournament draw will take place Sunday.

"We're expecting more of the same," Givan said. "Hopefully, we'll get a decent seed, and we'll find that out Sunday. We're just expecting to do our best every game and go as far as we can. But we see ourselves as a totally new team. A lot of people have said that it's hard to beat last year. But we're not competing with other Zane Trace teams of the past. We're our own team. We want to do as well as we can, and I think that'll be going pretty far in the tournament."

dwebb@chillicothegazette.com

Twitter: @dw1509