Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
KINNIKINNICK — “First things first, I have to give all glory to God. We wouldn’t be here without Him. He’s all throughout our team and a part of everything we do.”
That quote from Wheelersburg’s Nick Slyvia sums up what this Pirate team is all about — the group has an unwavering faith that, no matter what happens at the end of the day, they continue to believe.
That same belief they have in God is the same belief they have in one another, and that belief has them one win from the Final Four.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
The Pirates (20-1), led by two goals from Sylvia, alongside a quick defense and heavy ball-possession, earned a 3-1 victory over Gallia Academy in a Division IV regional semifinal on Wednesday.
“We know Gallia has some really special players on their side, but one area we felt that we had the advantage was with our scorers,” Wheelersburg’s Jon Estep said. “Controlling the midfield is what we want to do, and I thought Miller [Mckenzie] did a great job at that. That allowed us to put more up top and push up, jump ahead and close out for the win.”
Wheelersburg’s knack for finding the back of the net is no secret, considering the Pirates have connected with the back of the net 118 times this season.
But even more impressive is their defense.
After allowing just 16 goals all of last season, they’re a step better this year, surrendering just 11 scores this season.
PHOTOS: Images from Wheelersburg’s regional semifinal win over Gallia Academy
“Our defense is great. We worked a lot on winning those 50-50 balls in the air and not letting Gallia get to them,” Wheelersburg’s Breyden Byrd said. “If you prevent them from getting to the ball, then they can’t shoot, and that’s the main thing. We work hard in practice, and going up against our guys on offense is great work, so it only makes us better.”
After a bit of a feel-out process and understanding how both teams wanted to attack, Wheelersburg went right to work in the first half.
Drawing a foul just outside of the box, Sylvia took a free kick and did what he does best, connecting on a goal in the top right corner to put his Pirates ahead 1-0.
Less than a minute later, the Pirates were at it again as Brody Wilburn found himself at the right place at the right time, fielding a ricocheted ball and tipping it across the goal line for a 2-0 lead.
“Brody brings the energy every night, and he’s grown so much over the last four years. Last year when Connor [Estep] went down, we threw Brody in that spot but he wasn’t quite comfortable with it,” Estep said. “He knew what he was doing on the outside, but to make that leap after we lost Evan [Mitchell] in the second half of the season, Brody knew he could do it. We needed more physically as we went into the tournament, so we switched positions with him and Coleton [Schwamburger], and it’s worked like a charm.”
While that lead felt more than comfortable, considering how the game was trending, the Pirates added one more just for insurance.
With the ball at Coleton Schwamburger’s feet, he sent a cross into the box and that found Sylvia, who did the rest to extend the lead to 3-0 at halftime.
“Coleton always crosses the ball fantastically into the box and into danger positions for us to strike,” Sylvia said. “It bounced off one of Gallia’s players and straight to me, so it was just a tap in from that point.”
Gallia Academy got on the board with 15 minutes left in the game when Beckett Camden scored on a penalty kick, but the ink was already dry at that point as the Pirates closed out for their 20th victory of the year.
Wheelersburg advances to a Division IV regional final at 12 p.m. on Sunday at Athens High School against River View, who defeated Lisbon Beaver in overtime to advance.
“We set a goal back in June during summer conditioning that we wanted to play in November, and to keep playing at this point is something special,” Estep said. “It comes down to continuing to trust who we are and what we’ve done all season long. We haven’t played a team from the East region in a while, so this is a different challenge. There’s some things we’ll clean up in practice until then and we’ll be ready when Sunday comes.”
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