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WHEELING - While Magnolia was busy trying to mount a huge comeback Thursday afternoon, Wheeling Central senior Caitlyn Tomczyk, junior Molly Kurtz and the rest of the Maroon Knights soccer players were already making plans for next week's West Virginia Class AA-A Region One Final.

Tomczyk finished with a hat-trick, including a pair of first-half goals, while Kurtz tallied a pair early in the final 40 minutes of play to help push Central to a 4-0 second half lead as the Knights cruised early before holding on for a 5-3 victory against the Blue Eagles in the Class A-AA Region One, Section One championship game at Sonneborne Field 4.

The victory pushes coach Kevin Young's 7-9-1 record Wheeling Central squad into next Thursday's regional and a matchup with Weir at Brooke High School.

"This is the first state playoff victory for me, and hopefully there will be many more to come," a jubilant Young said afterwards. "It really is nice to get this, but there is still plenty more work for us to do."

Tomczyk and the Maroon Knights' defense were the big stories of the first half as Central took a 2-0 lead to the intermission.

The first goal came 15 minutes into the game when Magnolia failed to clear the ball out of the box, which was headed into net by Tomczyk from a short distance.

It looked like Big Blue would only be down one at the break, however, Tomczyk had other ideas when she took a pass from freshman Beth Stayduhar in a crowded box and ripped a shot past junior keeper Gabrielle Hostetler with just under a minute to go in the half to make it 2-0.

Kurtz got into the action just three minutes into the second half when she and Tomczyk passed the ball back-and-forth down the center of the field before slipping a shot past Hostetler to make it 3-0.

With 25 minutes to play, Kurtz was able to get a header on a loose ball after Hostetler had come out of goal for an attempted save to give the hosts what seemed like an insurmountable four goal advantage.

But Coach Kandi Loy's team was not going to go away that easily.

Midway through the final half sophomore Dallas Mullett was able to get a foot on a loose ball in a crowd in front of the net and sneak it past Central keeper Grace Drnach to make it 4-1.

Just three minutes after that junior Stina Pettersen's high shot from 15 yards out got past Drnach and the Blue Eagles had cut the lead in half with plenty of time to play.

And when junior Kari Forrester was able to collar a rebounded shot and put it into the back of the net with just four minutes to play, things had suddenly turned around and the Magnolia faithful could smell a comeback.

Tomczyk ended any threat of that a minute later when her third and final goal found made its way into net for an insurance tally.

"It was real nice to get the early lead, but we had a few breakdowns on defense late that allowed them to get back into it," Young said. "Ball possession is the name of the game, and we did a good job playing keep away and getting our shot totals up.

"Magnolia sure made things exciting late, and we wish them all the best of luck next season.

"As for the regional, Weir is a team that we know will give us everything we can handle, but we will be ready for the test."

Loy, meanwhile, was happy with how her team managed to stay in the game.

"These girls have a lot of heart," she mentioned. "No matter what the situation, they never got down on themselves the entire season. Getting down like we did gets the girls down a little, but they did a good job working to get back into it."

Ohio

Division II

Sectional Finals

(at Steubenville)

St. Clairsville 8, Edison 1

Jaclyn Dutton scored 5 goals and had an assist as St. Clairsville advanced to district action next week at Philo High School.

The Red Devils will face the John Glenn-Coshocton winner at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Katie Tomasetti and Caroline Guindon also scored for St. Clairsville (10-2-2).

Carissa Myler scored the lone goal for Edison (7-8-1).

Minerva 2, Steub. Catholic 0

Toria Nightingale and Morgan Albright both scored as Minerva (7-8-2) ousted Steubenville Catholic (13-3-1).

Anna Shaw made seven saves in net for the Crusaders.

BOYS

W.Va. Class AAA

Region One, Section One Final

(at Morgantown)

Wheeling Park 2, University 1

Josh Henderson scored both goals as Wheeling Park upended top-seeded University to claim a sectional crown.

The Patriots (14-4-4) will return to University at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to face the winner of Saturday's Preston-Fairmont Senior match for the regional title.

Tony Marcucci had the only goal for the Hawks (11-6-5)

W.Va. Class AA-A

Region One, Section One Final

(at Weirton)

Weir 5, Wheeling Central 0

Weir took another step in its quest to return to the state tournament by blanking Wheeling Central.

Chad Ford scored two goals for the Red Riders (13-2-2), while Marc Harris, Stephen Felton and Evan Harris each had one goal.

The Maroon Knights finished their season at 8-8-2