By Greg Billing for the Dayton Daily News

KETTERING | On a night more suitable for, well anything indoors, Brookville's boys high school soccer team sloshed its way to a district final. Under a steady rain that saturated the field, Brookville found solid footing to upset top-seeded Dayton Christian, 4-1, in the Division III, Dayton I district semifinal on Monday.

Brookville (14-3-2) avenged a 3-0 regular season loss to Dayton Christian (14-4) and moved the No. 3 Blue Devils into Thursday's district final. Brookville — which has never won a district title —plays the winner of No. 2 Oakwood and Troy Christian. That game was postponed from Monday to 7 p.m. tonight.

"This is huge. The team wanted this win bad," said Brookville keeper Nick Tidd, who helped his team survive a first-half barrage from the Warriors.

Dayton Christian outshot Brookville 7-2 in the first half. Five of those shots were on goal. But Tidd, despite the slick fielding conditions, didn't let a shot slip through.

"He was amazing tonight," Brookville coach Robert Hope said, calling it Tidd's best game of the season.

The offense finally struck five minutes into the second half. Bryan Connolly ripped a low liner into the middle of the net off Kyle Fulk's corner kick. Jeff Johns made it 2-0 about 10 minutes later on a penalty kick after getting tripped in the box. Fulk's header with 7:30 left put the game away.

Dayton Christian had one goal wiped out in the first half on an offsides, one of a half dozen called against the Warriors. They peppered Tidd six times in the second half and avoided the shutout with 2:08 remaining.

"At the end of the game it's about finishing your chances," Dayton Christian coach Tom Robey said. "We didn't do that. We told the guys at halftime with the (weather) conditions any chance inside the box can score."

The Warriors were dealt another blow when starting keeper Kevin Keske was injured with 15 minutes left. Keske ran to grab a loose ball in the air as a Brookville player also charged the ball. The Blue Devil slid low and into Keske, who flipped head over heels before landing hard. Keske was helped off the field and did not return.

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