Molfenter now stands alone at the top of the OHSAA record books with his 577th career coaching victory.
The Patriots led 6-0 at halftime and scored a seventh goal 37 seconds into the second half. While the match was seemingly decided by that point, his team peppered the Franklin net and had several quality scoring opportunities to end the night but couldn’t reach the eight-goal mercy rule until the final seconds.
“It was so nice for guys to get minutes, and I thought we were moving the ball pretty well,” Molfenter said. “Their keeper had an outstanding game and made some nice stops. It was a nice game to be moving on in the tournament and hopefully we took a little rust off.”
The match lasted long enough into the night the clear skies disappeared and a light drizzle began during the final minutes. It didn’t stop his players from drenching him in water in the seconds following the winning goal to celebrate the moment.
Going through his 34th season in coaching, Molfenter’s career record now stands at 577-91-59. He began at Milton Union as a 21-year-old in 1990 where he won 27 games before getting the same role at Carroll for his next 550 victories. He took over for Mike Donohue, who is the only other coach in the program’s 51-year history.
Molfenter surpasses Mario Gerhardt who has coached since 1970 at Chagrin Falls, West Geauga, and for Garfield Heights Trinity the past two seasons.
He doesn’t have a close relationship with Gerhardt and believes he only has met him once during an all-state banquet event.
“Him being up in the Cleveland area, we’ve never really had any interaction,” Molfenter said. “But he’s been coaching since 1970 and I’m so proud of him and he just did a great job up there.”
Carroll had advanced to Tuesday’s home game after Meadowdale forfeited its contest against the Patriots in the previous round. Had any of the team’s four combined ties or defeats this season gone the other way, it could have meant Molfenter’s record would have been set without his team taking the pitch. The thought didn’t cross his mind, but he was glad it didn’t happen in that manner.
With tonight’s win, Coach Scott Molfenter breaks the OHSAA record for most wins all time in the state of Ohio! Congratulations Coach Molfenter on win number 577! @gclcoedsports @CarrollAthDept @carrollpatriots pic.twitter.com/CVbzSuSxvj
— Carroll Boys Soccer (@CarrollBSoccer) October 22, 2025
Noah Haggerty, the team’s leading scorer, netted four goals on Tuesday to raise his season total to 21. Tadeas Fedorisin, Noely Oliver and Luis Wagner also scored goals.
Under the watch of Molfenter, who is also the school’s athletic director, Carroll has advanced to nine state final fours and won four state championships, all coming between 2008-2012.
“All the teams are all so special,” he said. “The state titles and games like this, all of the tournament runs, it’s just the relationships you build and their journeys that I think it’s the neatest part of this whole thing.”
Molfenter is one of three boys soccer coaches in state history to have reached 500 wins. Now 57, he said he doesn’t have plans to quit coaching anytime soon.
The next opportunity to extend the record comes when Carroll plays GCL Co-Ed rival McNicholas in a district final game on Saturday at a site to be determined.
This year’s squad is ranked No. 2 in the state. After reaching the regional finals a year ago, Molfenter believes his team is ready to make some more noise in the postseason.
“Unfortunately, this has been a little bit of a distraction,” he said. “But I think the guys handled it great and we tried not to talk about it, but now we get to move on.”
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