Staff photo / Brian Yauger Niles senior Cali Rodgers (4) attempts to pass the ball upfield while being defended by Fairview’s Mia Gargiulo during a Division IV regional semifinal on Tuesday at Ravenna.

RAVENNA — A second-half flurry helped propel Niles on Tuesday. The Red Dragons scored three goals after halftime to take down Fairview, 4-1, and advance to the program’s first regional title game.

The win also gave Niles its 20th of the season.

“We wanted to get to 20,” Red Dragons coach Scott MacMillan said. “That was our goal, to get to 20 wins, win district and win our conference. And they’ve accomplished that, on top of giving me a thrill of my life.”

Senior Cali Rodgers got the Dragons on the board. The teams were tied at the break after a pair of bloopers wound up in each other’s nets.

Over the 10-minute intermission, MacMillan reminded his close-knit group to focus on their respective roles. Once that happened, the floodgates opened.

“At halftime, I tried to tell them that they had to quit trying to do each other’s job, and that’s exactly what they were doing,” he said. “They were trying to help each other out too much and neglecting their own job. Once they settled into their own positions and started playing, it became a better game. We outshot them in the second half. We dominated in the defending third. They love each other so much that they wanted to help each other, and I told them that that’s why that girl’s there. She has to do her job, and once they did that, we were fine.”

Once Niles found its scoring touch, it was hard to stop. Madelyn Yost, Kherington Stanford and Jazmine Smith each scored for the Red Dragons in the second half.

The win pushes Niles to an unblemished 20-0-1 record. The Red Dragons are small in numbers and a young group, but have been motivated by pride for where they’re from.

“We’ve got low numbers,” MacMillan said. “We have 16 kids, and they’re young. We lose two seniors (after this season), but I think they really just wanted to bring it for the community. They talk about it all the time. ‘Let’s do this for our school. Let’s do this for our community. Make people proud of being from Niles,’ and that’s what they do.”

The Dragons look to keep things going in the Division IV, Region 14, final against Ottawa-Glandorf.

“They’ve made it three straight years to the state semis, so they’re very formidable. They’re very good,” MacMillan said. “We’re gonna have to play a different style than we played tonight, which I knew that going in. If we advanced, whoever we played, it would have to be a different style of play. We play according to the team that we play, so we have a lot of work to do.

“We’re going to savor it for one day, have some pizza, and I’m going to tell them how much I love them, and we’re going to get back to Niles and start working hard to win a regional final.”

The game is set for Saturday at Firelands Health Stadium in Sandusky. Start time is has yet to be announced.