Oscar DiFranco’s 2024 season has been special. But in the Division IV Northeast 3 sectional final, his two-goal performance came at a cost. As he extended the program’s single-season goal record to 34, DiFranco was injured shortly after scoring his second goal against Firelands. The Tigers hunkered down defensively. With Firelands poised to make a comeback, the Tigers managed to score another goal without their star player for a 3-1 win on Oct. 23. “Shortly after his second goal, a non-contact injury, looks like he hurt his knee. We will see if he will be back later on this week for Saturday evening,” Chagrin Falls Coach Brian McKenna said. PHOTOS: Firelands vs. Chagrin Falls boys soccer, Oct. 23, 2024 Chagrin Falls (11-6-2) advanced to the Division IV Northeast 3 District final and will take on Poland Seminary. Poland Seminary defeated Bay, 4-3, ending the Rockets’ 12-year reign as district champions. Firelands finished its season 15-3-1. With a 12-0 Lorain County League record, it was its sixth straight season as conference champions. DiFranco scored his first two goals inside the first 20 minutes. The first came in the 14th minute and the next came from a header on a corner kick set piece from Colin Struk-Marn. “They are good, they are fast and they are tall. They have a lot of the right things that you need (to win),” Firelands coach Bill Yakunovich said. Until DiFranco’s injury and departure from the game, he had six first-half shots. Four of those shots were on goal and two were from corner kicks. “(DiFranco) has movement off the ball. He can chance direction, rather quickly and he has a nose for the goal,” McKenna said. The Tigers led the Falcons, 2-0, at halftime. However, Firelands did not go down without a fight. After DiFranco’s injury, the Falcons had an opportunity to switch to an aggressive formation. “Our defense was much less worried about (Chagrin Falls’) offensive threat,” Yakunovich said. “We were able to not focus on him and send a guy to man-mark him at times. We moved guys up top in the second half. We went from a 4-5-1 (formation) to a 4-4-2 to try and score. It had a lot to do with (DiFranco) not being in there.” The Falcons had 11 shots (four on goal) in the first half. They went on to have six more shots. The two second-half shots that were on goal had a chance to go in, but one went off the crossbar. Mikey Janosik’s well-placed volley was saved by Ethan Nielson (six saves) to go over the crossbar. Firelands put one in the back of the net, which came from Jayden Becker on the second-half counterattack. “I felt like we were close to scoring again,” Yakunovich said. “Obviously, I wished that we could have, but we could not pull it out. Credit to Chagrin Falls. They played a great defensive second half, keeping us out of the goal.” Firelands had 25 minutes to tie and force extra time, but Chagrin Falls’ Owen Edwards had an overhead throw from out of bounds that went in the back of the net. Goals from out of bounds throws are illegal, unless it touches an opposing player. The referee ruled that it did touch Firelands and awarded the Tigers the goal and the 3-1 lead. It was technically ruled as an own goal by Firelands. “I usually go for the front post,” Edwards said. “That’s happened once or twice before, where the keeper tips it. So, I am keeping on my player on the front post and it skimmed off (Firelands’) head.”