Wheeling Central Catholic Boys Halted In State Soccer Semis By Point Pleasant
Seth Staskey Trending
WHEELING - It had been a historic season for the Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights, but the accomplishment of the Knights reaching their first state semifinals turned bittersweet Thursday morning, Wheeling Central bowing out in Beckley against the top-seeded Point Pleasant Black Knights, 4-0.
The Maroon Knights fell behind 3-0 in the first half, and finish their season with a 10-8-6 record after playoff wins against Weir, Trinity Christian, and Frankfort.
"I had the discussion with them after the game," Wheeling Central head coach Brian Komorowski said. "I said that these are never easy. Only one team ends their season with a win, and the higher you get up this ladder, the harder the fall is when that loss comes.
"The future's bright. We have a really good group of kids coming up, and I definitely think Central soccer has a really strong future ahead of them."
Point Pleasant attempted eight shots on goal, and converted 50% of them to secure the victory. The Maroon Knights attempted three shots on goal, often struggling to straighten out a good touch around the goal against a quick Black Knights defense.
On the other end, Wheeling Central was able to stand up to the Point Pleasant attack for long stretches, though the Black Knights won the possession battle and took advantage of opportunities when presented.
The first goal of the game came in the midst of a mess in front of Wheeling Central's goal. Point fired a free kick towards the net, the shot redirected to the side by Maroon keeper Tino Sperlazza. A header bounced the ball back in front of the goal, and Point's Antonio De Luca made a remarkable play by pulling off a bicycle kick for a sixth-minute score.
"I thought the first 10 minutes we had a fair amount of pressure," Komorowski said. "They get a free kick, and we just couldn't handle the ball in the air. It bounces around and they finish it. Very uncharacteristic of us.
Wheeling Central had a handful of tries around the goal in the following minutes, including a flurry of stabs at the net after a crosser put the ball in position in the 20th minute. The Black Knights weathered the storm though, and kept the Maroon Knights off the scoreboard.
Points' leading scorer, Joey Pinkerton, got in on the action next, delivering a deflating blow to Wheeling Central with two goals in seven minutes, scoring first in the 26th minute and again in the 33rd minute.
Pinkerton netted his first goal in unassisted fashion, surging up the left side and delivering a wormburner which eked by Central's keeper. Pinkerton was the recipient of a short crosser for his second goal, gathering, turning and loosing a left-footed shot to the far post.
"As the game goes on, they have a second goal go in, and it was a just a good play, a good goal," Komorowski said. "But then the nail really was the third goal in the first half. [Pinkerton's] a very good player. Just cut across the middle and had an excellent shot with his left foot over into the right side of the goal."
Wheeling Central was put on the back foot by some of Point Pleasant's strategy coming into Thursday, including the Black Knights' usage of just one forward in their sets.
"We should be used to that considering we do that too," Komorowski said. "Then they make a lot of runs from the wings and from the midfield, and they did a very good job of that. At the beginning, it confused us a little bit, we were bringing too many guys back on defense.
"We made some adjustments at halftime to try and eliminate that so we could get more pressure forward, and it was working. Then that fourth goal goes in and it just took the air out of our sails."
Cooper Tatterson gave Point more insurance in the 52nd minute with a long-range goal that sealed the semifinal win for his team.
"It just wasn't our day," Komorowski said.
While Thursday was a defeat, the season on the whole was a triumph for Wheeling Central, who's play on the field- and work off of it- can be a boost to the program far beyond this one year, which still included the Knights' first regional title.
"You could just tell by the passion after the game what all this meant to our kids," Komorowski said. "I have kids who've come out the past couple years who hadn't played soccer before and they've fallen in love with the sport."
"They played an amazing game."
Point Pleasant will face two-seed Charleston Catholic, who beat No. 3 Lewis County on Thursday, in the championship game. The title bout, scheduled for Saturday at 9:30 a.m., is a rematch of last year's, where Charleston Catholic bested Point 3-1.
"Point Pleasant is a phenomenal team, they are absolutely phenomenal," Komorowski said. "They played so much better today than they did on tape. Kudos to them, at the end of the day, you shake the other coach’s hand and say they were the better team today, and they were. Whoever plays them is going to have their hands full in the championship game."