Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Jackson-Milton’s Wesley Schwarten (2) attempts a last-second kick while sliding as Newton Falls’ Conner Dunlap tries to defend during the first half of a game in North Jackson on Wednesday.

NORTH JACKSON — It pays off to have players in the right place at the right time. And the Newton Falls boys soccer team seemed to have someone in the perfect spot on offense on Wednesday.

The Tigers beat Jackson-Milton 4-1 at Jackson-Milton High School thanks to that approach.

“With the talent level that we have and the skill level that we have, we’re trying to do that small ball, where we’re moving the ball in smaller spaces — we work on that — and then try to open it up at the end,” Newton Falls head coach Frank Tatarka said. “Make it bigger, make the goalie work harder, and it’s working. We’re scoring a ton of goals this year.”

Brady Lampman got the Tigers (7-4-1) on the board four minutes into the match. A throw-in was battled away in front of the net, and Lampman was in position for the rebound.

The Blue Jays (3-6-1) got that goal back, however, when Brock Piatt slipped a soft pass through the Tigers’ back line. Ryan Gray got the ball around the 5-yard line and deposited the ball into the top-left corner with 29:27 left in the first half.

Newton Falls took a 2-1 lead with 9:44 before the half. Carter Drake battled for possession several feet in front of the net. But he regained control, and because he was so close, Jackson-Milton goalkeeper Gavin Murphy didn’t have a shot at a save when Drake lightly tapped it in.

The Tigers added another goal with 27:11 to play.

Tyler Stinson threw the ball in from the right sideline. He got enough on it to get it to the net through the air. The ball slipped out of Murphy’s outstretched hands, where Jaden Stempert was waiting to tap it in, pushing the Newton Falls lead to 3-1.

Newton Falls added one last goal when Leland Vargo scored on a sliding kick with 3:15 to play.

“In soccer, first, you have to create opportunities. Two, you shoot, you might score,” Jackson-Milton head coach Ned Seder said. “We didn’t shoot. We had too many chances in front of the goal. The stamina, scared maybe, shy … you have to shoot. But you don’t shoot for the heck of it, you shoot to score, to blast it in the net. We didn’t do that, they did, and I give it to them.”

Derek Montgomery stopped six shots for the Tigers. Meanwhile, Murphy was under fire for most of the day, finishing with 10 saves.

The Tigers have been on a solid run since they got into the bulk of their Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Gray Tier schedule. Newton Falls started the year 2-3-1, but it has won five of its last six. The only loss during that stretch came to non-conference foe Girard.

And Tatarka was correct when he said the Tigers have been finding the net a lot. During their last six games, they have outscored opponents 31-10.

That’s thanks to the “small ball” the team has been able to play this season.

“We try to stress possession,” Tatarka said. “If we can possess the ball 60% of the game, we got a chance to win the game. Try to keep the ball off of other teams’ feet, so we try to do, again, small ball. Keep it simple, try to make it simple, so our kids don’t have to think much and it’s basically keep possession and try to keep the ball away from the other team.”