West Branch bests JFK, wins regional final

High School Sports West Branch bests JFK, wins regional final By LOWELL SPENCER November 9, 2026 4 min read Morning Journal / Lowell Spencer West Branch's Ellie Tucker (8) dribbles the ball while Warren JFK's Sophia Beltran defends during Saturday's Division IV regional final at Crestview. Trending COLUMBIANA - It has been an historic year for the West Branch girls soccer program. In Saturday's regional championship match against Warren JFK, the Warriors were looking to add to their resume.
And that is exactly what they did, with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Eagles to advance to the state semifinals on Tuesday at Swank Field in Health. The victory also keeps the Warriors’ perfect season intact as they now push their mark to 22-0.
"It means a lot. Being an alumnus from West Branch, and coming back as a head coach, so definitely very proud," an emotional Warriors coach Zach Dean said.
"It means everything to me, the first time in program history that the girls soccer team has made it to state," Warriors goaltender Audrey Eaton said. "We have been working hard since April, and all that hard work, we finally did it."
"I'm very, very proud of our team," senior forward Cambrie Nezbeth said. "We put in a lot of work in the off-season; now it is really paying off."
The Warriors will tackle the Cincinnati Mariemont Warriors in the state semi-finals at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Mariemont Warriors will enter the match with an impressive 18-1-2 record this season.
"It's insane. I can't even believe it,” Nezbeth said. “We have never done this in West Branch history to make it this far. It is a privilege.” According to Dean, it is the special collection of 10 seniors he has on this Warriors team that has carried them to such a special season. Their leadership and commitment have been a key factor.
"The senior leadership has been tremendous," Dean said. "They have really come together as one group. They are not only good leaders, but they are good people who have done great things for this program. They have been together for a while, and they believe in one another. They have set the tone for us."
The only goal of the contest came at the 18:35 mark of the first half when senior Cambrie Nezbeth blasted the ball into the net from the right side of the net. But according to Nezbeth, she was just in the right place at the right time as teammate Caidee Schroder kicked the ball across the goalmouth and found its way to Nezbeth.
"She (goaltender) didn't think she could pick it up, so I guess she just kicked it, and I kicked it in," Nezbeth described her blast off the deflection. 
"We played a nice ball across, and we were there at the right time. She (Nezbeth) just put it away," Dean said. "I'm extremely proud of her. She works extremely hard, and I'm glad she got the goal and made the difference today." Nezbeth's goal was just one of ten shots on net for the Warriors. But the Eagles were only able to manage six shots on goal, and Eaton stood tall in net, including a couple of odd-man rushes in the second half by the Eagles. "It's kind of hard," Eaton admitted about staying focused for those quick rushes. "Some of the games this season we were up by a lot and it was hard to stay in the game, but I have developed a mindset that I always have to be ready because you never know what can happen. Especially in big games like these, I always have to be ready." "Audrey is a tremendous player, a three-year starter. She does a nice job for us back there," Dean said. "She has seventeen shutouts for us this year and nearly forty in a career, so I'm extremely proud of her." The Warriors appeared to have sealed the game at the 15:02 mark of the second half when senior Caidee Schroeder smacked the ball past the Eagles goaltender Rahmiya Provitt to make it a 2-0 game. But the officials called a hand pass on the Warriors to nullify the goal. "The difference was that we got those balls through and we got back and defended every single time. We just wanted it more," Nezbeth said. "I thought it was possible with this group, but as we kept stacking the wins and kept going, I realized that we had a good shot to go far," Dean said about the Warriors’ special season.