photo by: Nick Henthorn

Wheeling Park’s Coldin Burkhart high-fives head coach Steve Myers during the Patriots’ OVAC 5A semifinal game against Parkersburg South on Tuesday night. The Patriots will face Morgantown for the 5A championship on Thursday at Harrison Central High School’s Mazeroski Field.

CADIZ – Wheeling Park has had a strong first half of their season, and an explosive liftoff point to their OVAC 5A championship game against Morgantown, but the Patriots are hoping the climax of their storybook has yet to come.

“Any time you play a sport, one of your main goals is to win the conference,” Wheeling Park head coach Steve Myers said. “So anytime you get to the conference championship it’s exciting. We have a great group of young men and players, I’d love to see it for them, that’s for sure.”

After a dramatic walk-off win against Parkersburg South in the OVAC semifinals, the Patriots will take on the Mohigans on Thursday at 5 p.m. on Harrison Central High School’s Mazeroski Field.

A game-tying two-run home run by senior Nate Simon and eighth-inning walk off home run by junior Nolan Yanchak got Park to the final, but Myers wants his team looking forward, not backwards.

“Every game’s a different game,” Myers said. “It’s a new one on Thursday, but it was an exciting game in the semifinals and now we’re looking forward to the next one.”

Park’s opponent is a familiar one, the Mohigans and Patriots having already played each other twice this season. Wheeling Park has narrowly come out on top in each, 6-5 on March 25 and 3-2 on April 7. The two rival schools have seen plenty of each other in most every sport in recent years, and with their third meeting of the season on-tap, Myers knows the challenges which his team should expect.

“Always a good team,” the veteran head coach, who recently surpassed 100 coaching wins, said. “Very well-coached team, usually a very well-balanced team. They have multiple pitchers who always are in the strike zone, and they make you earn every run that you get. They’re good on the bases, they can play a good brand of small ball but also have some guys with power.”

Wheeling Park was beaten by Morgantown in the OVAC semifinals last year, were OVAC champs in 2023, were beaten by Morgantown in the finals in ’22 and defeated the Mohigans in the finals in ’21.

The Mohigans made it to the championship this year after defeating Brooke 5-1 in their semifinal game. In that game, Starting pitcher Vinnie Aloi tossed a complete game with six hits allowed, only one earned run, and eight strikeouts.

The Patriots this year has been a mix of young and old, with junior Kolten Whitmire often batting leadoff and taking the pill on the mound, sophomore Jaxson Updegraff often batting second as a DH who gets plenty of barrels, athletic shortstop Nate Simon hitting third and fellow senior Ryland Robb hitting cleanup and manning third base every day.

Seniors Rocco Digiandomenico, Coldin Burkhart, Noah Short, Paul McGee and Mason Charlton, and juniors Nolan Yanchak and Miles Gorby round out much of Park’s core.

For the group to pull off a third win over Morgantown, the second seed in 5A, the top-seeded Patriots are looking at the intangibles.

“I think it’ll come down to the little things, things you may not see in a boxscore, but the little things that you have to do game-to-game to be successful,” Myers said.