Second-Half Surge Powers Badin Past Turpin, Pushes Rams Into D-III Regional Final Against Carroll

By Rick Cassano

CENTERVILLE – History was made by Badin High School’s boys soccer team last season. Now the Rams are striving to do it again.

Badin has found more postseason magic this year and finds itself one step away from returning to the Division III state tournament after surging past Turpin 3-1 in a soggy regional semifinal Wednesday night at Centerville’s Alumni Stadium.

“Feels great,” first-year Rams coach Brad Specht said. “This is what they want, this is what they crave, and they’ve earned it. It’s another day they proved that they belong here.”

Vinny Greene, Charlie Hall and Will Gehring all tallied second-half goals to erase a 1-0 halftime deficit against previously unbeaten Turpin as Badin (17-3-1) improved to 10-1-1 over its last dozen games.

The Rams made it to the Final Four for the first time in program history last year and will have to go through a familiar opponent to repeat as regional champions.

Badin will meet Greater Catholic League Coed Division rival Dayton Carroll (21-0-1) at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Beavercreek with a state berth on the line. The Patriots topped the Rams 3-1 on Sept. 15 and went on to win the GCL Coed title.

“I’m excited. The team is so ready,” said Badin’s Ian Long, a junior left back. “We dominated the first half in our first game, then in the second half we kind of took a step back. Guys were cramping. I feel like we weren’t physically prepared in that game and it bit us in the butt. We need that rematch.”

The Rams savored their first-ever win over Carroll last year in a rain-soaked regional semifinal at Williamsburg. BHS figured if it was going to make another lengthy run this season, a clash with the Patriots was inevitable.

“That’s what we anticipated,” Specht said. “Our boys will be ready to go. We’ll have plenty left in the tank for Sunday.”

Badin dispatched Turpin in the 2025 regional final and ended the Spartans’ season again Wednesday by rising up after halftime, scoring three times in a span of just over 12 minutes.

Turpin (17-1-4) controlled the first half and got a goal from Santiago Sanchez-Mendoza with 7:26 on the clock to take a 1-0 advantage into the break.

Greene broke the ice for the Rams with 29:31 remaining in the contest.

“We kind of struggled in the first half,” said Greene, a senior forward. “But after the great locker-room speech from Coach, we cleaned it up. It was positive, all positive. The boys’ mind-set just switched, and we were the better team in the second half.”

Greene scored after Turpin goalkeeper Lucas Kelley blocked a shot by Long, but couldn’t make a grab. Greene then converted the loose ball.

“Their center back tried to head it back to their goalie, but it was like a miscommunication,” Long said. “So I ran onto it and shot in the corner. The goalkeeper saved it, but Vinny was right there.”

“Shaggy had a rip at it,” Greene said. “I just followed it up and tapped it in.”

Spartans coach Jamie Harloff said not only did that goal tie the score, it was also a demoralizer for his squad.

“I thought the first half we did a really good job of controlling the game,” Harloff said. “The second half was fine until we let that ball go in, and we didn’t respond after that. Badin smelled blood in the water and put some pressure on us. We just didn’t handle it very well. We’ve got to play 80 minutes, and I thought we played 40.”

Hall headed in a Greyson Kelley free kick with 26:02 left and Gehring converted off a Greene assist with 17:29 remaining. Jacob Aichele went the distance in goal for the Rams.

“They definitely were demotivated after we scored the first one,” Long said. “They got a lot slower and we were motivated even more by that goal. We came out of that locker-room talk knowing that we just needed to click and catch them off guard, and that’s what we did.”

Specht said Badin executed its plan to work around Turpin’s Sam and Austin Harding, who were forces in the midfield and at left center back, respectively.

“We were trying to push the wings and create some space outside because every time we played a ball down the middle, (Austin Harding) was there to win,” Specht said. “We were trying to take advantage of some 1v1 matchups on the left and right sides and stay away from the middle.”

Hall has 21 goals and Greene has marked 14 to lead the Rams in scoring this year. Greene didn’t play for Badin last season. He said he didn’t make the varsity and declined an offer to play with the junior varsity.

“I trained on my own,” Greene said. “I wasn’t happy with the JV offer, so I just focused on myself, worked on my skill and brought it back this year.”

Long said Greene has been an offensive difference maker this year. The Rams also had a lot of talented sophomores last season, and they have continued to shine as juniors in 2026.

“We had a large class, so even though we lost a lot of seniors, we were able to pick up where we left off last year,” Long said. “We definitely have a lot of team chemistry because a lot of guys are a similar age. We have a lot of fun at practice. I’ve just connected a lot with this team. I feel like our chemistry has led us here.”

“I had full confidence in the boys that we could do well this year,” Greene said. “Playing for each other and being selfless and having the joy in the game is what it’s all for.”

Specht said his players are instinctive and generally know what needs to be done when it comes to halftime adjustments.

“It was pretty simple today,” Specht said. “The challenge before the game was just to let it rip, and we reiterated that at halftime. One of our pillars is commitment and in that it talks about being all in and truly emptying the tank, and they did that.

“We refuse to go down without a fight. We’re relentless and we have a never-die attitude, and it wears on teams. I think it wore on Turpin in the second half when we kept hitting, kept hitting, kept hitting, and the result is what it is.”

Turpin won the Eastern Cincinnati Conference championship this year, and Harloff said that’s no small feat. The Spartans lost 14 seniors from last season’s squad and have nine seniors on this year’s roster.

“For these guys to win probably the toughest conference in Cincinnati tells you a lot about the development that they’ve had,” Harloff said. “We had a bad game tonight. Unfortunately, that happens. We give congratulations to Badin.”

This is Harloff’s 20th season as Turpin’s head coach. He said he loves the program and wouldn’t want to coach anywhere else.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve made here. We’ll try again next year and see what happens,” Harloff said. “These are two of the top teams in Cincinnati in Division III. I’m sure this will be an ongoing thing with Badin. I expect to see them every year, and we look forward to it. Maybe we can get on the other side of it one time.”

The Badin-Carroll winner will advance to a state semifinal and face either Maumee or Richfield Revere on Nov. 11 at a neutral site. The state final is set for 4 p.m. on Nov. 16 at Scotts-Miracle Gro Field in Columbus.

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