Oct 25, 2024
photo by: Nick Henthorn
Wheeling Central’s Grady Mullin winds up for a kick during the Maroon Knights’ sectional semifinal match against Weir on Thursday at East Wheeling Soccer Field.
WHEELING – The start of the postseason was old hat for the two teams matching up on the East Wheeling Soccer Field. The Wheeling Central Maroon Knights and Weir Red Riders have been frequent playoff adversaries in recent years, and Thursday’s was a tightly contested affair between the two familiar foes.
The Maroon Knights (12-5-2) advanced to the sectional championship over the Red Riders on Thursday, taking a narrow 1-0 victory over visiting Weir (7-14).
“Playing Weir, it’s always a tough game,” Wheeling Central head coach Brian Komorowski said. “We always play them in the postseason and it’s always a hard game. We knew it was going to be a battle, they’ve improved vastly this year.”
“A great game,” Weir head coach Adam Welsh said. “I’m really proud of how the boys played. We were down here in early September and we didn’t play really well. We were a different team and it just really showed the growth that we’ve had, how we’ve come together as a team. Just one little breakdown there on defense, they snuck a shot past us. You’ll have that. We just couldn’t get enough shots on goal, couldn’t quite finish on the attack. But I’m still proud of the boys.”
Wheeling Central defeated Weir 4-0 in their regular season meeting back in September.
After a scoreless first half, The lone score Thursday came off the boot of Linkan Marler on a long shot from the right wing in the 48th minute
“Linkan got the ball, middle of the field, carried the ball up, and saw an opening,” Komorowski said. “We’d been telling them, ‘take hard, low shots. It’s a newer keeper.’ He had a really good shot, and he finished it.”
Weir’s keeper, Eduardo Souza, who had only been in as Weir’s keeper for a handful of games. The senior made impressive plays despite his newness to the position, tallying six saves on the game. Two of those came in rapid succession, Souza repelling a pair of attempts off a corner kick in the 10th minute, both hard-hit, close-range shots. Souza deflected the first shot and snagged the second shot out of the air.
“Towards the end of the season, we’d been putting him in there just to change it up, change up the flow a little bit,” Welsh said of Souza.
“He did well for a couple games, and he did well this game- that was just a nice shot that snuck past him. We couldn’t counter. But I’m proud of the boys’ season, they did a great job.”
Weir only had two shots on goal, with Tino Sperlazza keeping the sheet clean for the Knights. For Wheeling Central on Thursday, the best defense was a good offense, with the Maroon controlling possession for most of the match.
“We didn’t let them have any through balls or long runs,” Komorowski said. “We tried to pressure them from the back, so that anything that they were playing, they were playing 50/50 balls, so we could put pressure on them, so we could turn the ball over before it got too deep. We didn’t give up a lot of shots.”
“If we get pressure from our forwards and our attacking mids, then everything is going to work from there.”
Weir graduates five seniors- Souza, Alex Guio, Max Wood, Angelo Figlioli, and Ben Howard.
“A great group of boys,” Welsh said of his team. “I’m happy for our seniors, we went to the OVAC championship- we didn’t win, but we got there. We got better all year. I’m the only coach here, and I had a lot of help from all of our seniors helping bring the team together. I couldn’t be more proud of my boys. I wish the best for coach Brian and Wheeling Central, they’re a good team.”
Wheeling Central advances to the sectional championship. The Maroon Knights made it to the state semifinals last season, and have high expectations this year as well.
“Every year the expectation is to get down to state,” Komorowski said. “It’s been that way for years, it’s the culture we’ve been trying to build here. Last year after making it that far, even though we lost so many seniors, there was still that expectation of- ‘just because we’re putting a bunch of new starters in doesn’t mean the expectations are any different.’ We’re going to try and do it again on Saturday.”
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