John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — In a game that was deadlocked for over 75 minutes, it took a freshman to break the tie and send Wheelersburg back into the Elite 8.
With 4:24 remaining in regulation, Wheelersburg’s Jackson Schwamburger sent a cross into the penalty area where freshman Nick Sylvia connected beautifully and sent the ball into the upper right side of the net to give the Pirates a 1-0 victory over Minford.
The Pirates will now take on Grandview Heights (12-7-1) for the third consecutive year in the regional tournament — each team has won a meeting. The Bobcats defeated Worthington Christian 1-0 on Wednesday night and are the defending Division III state champions.
Wednesday’s meeting between the Pirates and Falcons was the third of the season between the Southern Ohio Conference rivals. Minford won (2-1) at Wheelersburg and the two tied (4-4) at Minford.
This meeting started off slowly with both teams feeling each other out throughout the first half by trying to eliminate each other’s big-game players.
For the Pirates (17-1-2), sophomore defender Miller McKenzie was tasked with slowly down Minford’s Myles Montgomery — a tall task, but one McKenzie was up for.
“Miller was really good. He was really good the other day against Ironton St. Joe and limiting [Zach] Johnson,” Wheelersburg coach Jon Estep said. “Miller has grown into that role and I told him before the game that it was his turn. We needed Connor to give us a little more of an offensive push, so [limiting Montgomery] was going to fall on his shoulders. I thought he did a really good job. He helped control and limit them.”
The Pirates also had to deal with the major issue of a great size advantage the Falcons had, especially on restarts. Charlie Neal and Luke Oakes start at center back for the Falcons, but also are major scoring threats on throw-ins from Adam Crank.
“On their corners and throw-ins, we tried to not let [Minford] have those because they’re dangerous,” Wheelersburg’s Connor Estep said. “Crank launches those in there and he’s looking for Neal all the time. I just sat in the middle, knowing it was going to Neal and was just thinking, ‘I have to get it out.’ They scored two or three of those against Northwest [in the district final]. We knew that going in.”
The Falcons (16-3-1) had to deal with the dynamic duo of Sylvia and Max Hagans, who had combined for 89 goals on the year coming into the game. Schwamburger and Estep also give the Pirates some thunder from the midfield. Neal and Oakes, along with Sam Tieman and Dylan Brooks, did an outstanding job of limiting the Pirates’ opportunities throughout the first half.
After the first 40 minutes, neither team had a major chance at a goal, with each taking five shots and none of them coming from inside the box. In the second half, much of that continued as well.
The Pirates’ defense of Clark Weller, Gavin Bradley, McKenzie and senior captain Nolan Wright kept the Falcons’ attack at bay, winning 50:50 balls in the air and not allowing major scoring chances for the Falcons throughout the entire game.
Wheelersburg was able to get their offensive attack going in the second half, but weren’t able to get a good look at the goal until there were eight minutes remaining when Hagans was able to get free in the box, but had an impossible angle and was unable to score.
All of that changed as time ran down and Schwamburger was able to send his low cross into Sylvia, whose goal was the 43rd of his freshman season.
“It feels so good to win the game-winning goal,” Sylvia said. “Oh my goodness. That feeling, there’s nothing else like it in the world. You see it go in and it’s amazing.”
The Falcons, to their credit, didn’t show any quit, eventually getting a corner kick as time ran down. But they were whistled for a foul for a push on the attempt.
Minford’s season ends for the second consecutive year in the regional semifinals, both coming on 1-0 losses. The Falcons graduate seven seniors, including six starters, but still have some major talent returning as they will attempt to win a third straight SOC and district championship in 2023.
Wheelersburg will look to become only the second Southeast District school to win two regional championships in soccer when they battle Grandview Heights on Saturday at Logan High School.
“We knew we had to make adjustments from the last time we played Minford and when we watched in on film, we knew we had to cover their outside runners,” Estep said. “They have a lot of athletes that can score from anywhere. We tried to limit Myles’ touches up top and stay connected to Crank in the middle. We also knew that, in both games we played this year, their role players were the difference. Ultimately, I’m really proud of these guys. They did an excellent job. Now, we’ll go battle [in the regional final].”
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