By Greg Billing for the Dayton Daily News

CENTERVILLE | No Division I school, count Centerville among them, will concede the boys soccer state title to Cleveland St. Ignatius. But the Elks will give one thing to the Wildcats.

"They deserve their No. 1 ranking," Centerville coach Bryan Loveless said of St. Ignatius' top spot in the nation. "Sometimes rankings don't mean a whole lot. But they deserve it."

St. Ignatius — despite a rare early deficit— displayed impressive speed and quickness on Saturday. In a sometimes rough-and-tumble match, the Wildcats survived Centerville 3-1 in front of about 2,500 spectators at Centerville Soccer Stadium.

The Wildcats (10-0) entered ranked No. 1 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and No. 1 in the state. The Elks (9-1) entered No. 8 in the nation and No. 2 in the state.

Centerville's Nick Armacost stunned St. Ignatius with his goal just nine minutes into the game. The score off D.J. Todd's assist was just the third against the Wildcats, who have now outscored opponents 40-3.

But the lead lasted just four minutes. The tie slipped away nine minutes after that on goals by Jeremy Deighton and Justin Morrow.

Deighton capped the scoring in the first minute of the second half.

St. Ignatius' D-I college recruits, defender Barry Rice (Kentucky), midfielder Mark Blades (Northwestern) and midfielder Morrow (Notre Dame) presented problems for Centerville.

For the Elks, Braden Bishop had a pair of headers miss by inches and Reece Lonsert saved a goal with his chest.

"This was our hardest test so far," St. Ignatius coach Mike McLaughlin said. "This is a tough place to play with the tradition here and the overall quality of their team."

The efficient Wildcats managed six shots on the Elks and all were on goal. Centerville took six shots with two on goal.

"They proved today they are the best team in the state, at least of the teams I've seen," Loveless said. "But we feel like we can play with them."

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