MOUNDSVILLE – By halftime of their regional championship game against University, the Wheeling Park Patriots could see a trip to the state tournament off in their future, ahead 3-0 at the break, and 4-0 a few minutes into the second half. But by game’s end, Park was whip-lashed back to the present by a furious Hawks comeback.
University’s efforts were not quite enough though, and Wheeling Park was able to batten down the hatches and punch their ticket to Beckley after all in a 4-3 victory at Monarch Stadium in their Class AAA Region 1 title match.
“We’re always grateful to be moving on,” Wheeling Park head coach Mario Julian said. “It’s a very difficult tournament to win. I love the effort in the first half and the start of the second half. We got up to a 4-0 lead– no team playing for an opportunity to go to the state championships’ going to give in, and University put on a nice comeback effort and forced us to stress out a little bit there in the end.
“The kids persevered, held on, and we’re looking forward to another opportunity in Beckley, West Virginia.”
Wheeling Park wasted little time in starting their scoring, with Sam Rockey punching through a point-blank goal in the first minute of play, assisted by Tresz McLeod.
Graham Loy added another to the Patriot total in the seventh minute, his shot smacking off the bottom of the crossbar and bouncing on the ground in the goal. Whistles blew, and the officials ruled the ball had gone over the goal line for a score.
After the early pair of goals, the teams were at a stalemate until the final minutes of the first half. Tresz McLeod sliced a shot from the left wing through the net in the 39th minute, with an assist from AJ Seals to send the two teams to the break.
The Wheeling Park lead grew in the 47th minute, with Wilson Hanna cashing in off a feed from Rynder McLeod.
From there, the game flipped on it’s head.
University’s Pierre Kpegba got University on the board in the 52nd minute with a stiff straightaway kick, and only six minutes later, Nate Lindsay lept for a flying header that caught the back of the net. University keeper Finn Worstorff kept the Hawks’ momentum with an impressive save in the 62nd minute, sliding feet-first and extending a hand to pin a shot to the ground and keep Wheeling Park in check.
Wheeling Park keeper Gavin Border made a highlight play of his own around the 70th minute, deflecting two shots in close succession, diving one way to make the first save before lurching back the other direction to make the second save and keep the game at 4-2.
Needing another spark, University got their chance when Davion Huckaby was fouled in the Wheeling Park goalie box. Huckaby nailed the penalty kick to bring the Hawks within one shot of tying the game.
But the Hawks did not get another shot. Wheeling Park won 50/50 balls, and scattered balls out of bounds at the first sign of any trouble until the clock ticked to zero on Monarch Field.
“You can point to three of their four goals as just things that we’ve talked about and talked about,” University head coach Michael Smith said. “We just had lapses in the back. For the most part the guys came in prepared. I think that once we shored things up and once we got where we needed to be, we forced them into things they were uncomfortable with– panic-shots from distance. When we played our game defensively things went well for us.
“Most of all, down 4-0 they didn’t give up, they didn’t let themselves down. I couldn’t be more proud of that group right now.”
University pushed Wheeling Park to the brink Tuesday, a different feeling by game’s end than the Hawks’ and Patriots’ two regular season matchups, both of which Park took by identical 8-1 scores.
“We had a lot of success against them the first two times,” Julian said. “This one started off the same way as the other two games. We got a couple goals early, the difference is now, if you lose, you’re done. I think University had a conversation at halftime, and they gave everything they had.
“Sometimes you try to do things and a break goes here or there, and they start to get some momentum. I knew that was a possibility just because when we played them, I saw they were athletic, they had some really good players in the mid-field. I knew that we would have to finish and play the full 80 minutes to get the victory.”
“It’s been a unique journey,” Smith said. “I think there was more growth that was needed throughout the season than in previous years, but these guys have been up to the task. We changed formations to put ourselves in better positions, guys adapted, they worked hard, and right now this is going to be one of the most fun groups we’ve had to work with.
“I’m really going to be sad to see this senior class go.”
Wheeling Park will advance to the state final four, along with Martinsburg, Woodrow Wilson and Hurricane, who won their respective regions.
“The further you go in the tournament, you’re playing against quality opponents,” Julian said. “I think we’re one of the better teams. In order for us to pull out the victory at the state semifinals we’re going to have to clean up some of our passing. We were a little bit errant on our passing to feet.
“We were panicked a little bit, we made some mistakes that we normally don’t make. I think both teams do that. I think as you go along in a season, you’re going to see that pressure gets to young adults. It gets to professionals as well. But it’s fun, the kids are having a great time this year. We’ve got 20 wins on the season, we’re ranked No. 2 in the state, 56th in the nation on MaxPreps, we’ve got a very solid team and we’re looking forward to an opportunity in Beckley.”
– By NICK HENTHORN (The Intelligencer)
