photo by: Kim North

Linsly’s Jamie Loudermilk (11) heads the ball as St. Clairsville’s James Parsons defends Wednesday during their OVAC Class 4A semifinal match night in Red Devil Stadium.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – For the first time in their careers, the seniors on the St. Clairsville boys’ soccer team will be playing for the OVAC Class 4A title. The Red Devils had fallen in the semifinals in each of the last three seasons.

However, with Wednesday night’s 3-0 blanking of No. 4 Linsly (6-5) in a semifinal match on the artificial pitch inside Red Devil Stadium, top-seeded St. Clairsville (8-1-1) will play for the title on its home surface Saturday at 10 a.m. against second-seeded Beaver Local, which shutout No. 3 Union Local, 2-0, Wednesday night in Lisbon.

“It’s so important to be playing the finals at home. The last three years we lost in the semifinals every time, so this feels amazing to be in the finals and to be playing them at home,” senior Parker Galloway said. “It’s a chance to show everyone who we really are.”

Galloway suffered a gruesome ankle injury in the season-opener last year that sidelined him for the season and put him through months of constant rehab and had him questioning himself on a return.

“I wasn’t going to play this year but I saw something with this team and I wanted to be a part of it,” he admitted after scoring two goals Wednesday night. “I never thought I was going to play soccer again. All of my focus was towards football (where is the placekicker this season) and soccer was a second thought, but I’m glad I decided to play.”

The driving factor behind his decision?

“To win. Looking back at our sophomore year, we had it in the bag, but we were missing a piece or two,” he added. “In looking at this team, I was the missing piece. We are dominating now.”

He said, with a slight grin, that the ankle “hurts every once in a while.”

St. Clairsville head coach Jeff Roberts is glad to be back in the finals. St. Clairsville last won a title when it went back-to-back in 2019 and 2020. The Red Devils have four overall.

“It’s been a minute,” he said of playing in the finals. “We’ve been young for a long time, but this year it is our time. Teams tend to out-possess at times, but we are gritty and we don’t give up a lot of goals.

“Tonight was a great showing by our defense,” Roberts added. “Linsly has some quality athletes from all over. Getting the shutout was important. It was another statement win for us.”

Linsly had several golden scoring opportunities early on. The Cadets hit the post and then drove the rebound wide of the net in the fourth minute, but it was St. Clairsville that tickled the twine first.

In the 29th minute, Lucas Causey’s free kick from 45 yards out sailed over top of a scrum of players in the box. Somehow the ball eluded the grasp of goalkeeper Max Iglesias before trickling across the goal line.

“I’m not sure what happened on that shot,” Roberts offered. “On the sideline it appeared as though Parker got a head on it, but he said he didn’t.”

St. Clairsville nearly scored again before the first half ended as Camden Judge was denied by defenseman Tucker Harden as Iglesias was out of position.

It didn’t take long for the Red Devils to assert themselves in the second half. Two minutes in, Galloway’s spinning right-footed blast sailed into the net as the count rose to 2-0. Causey also assisted.

“I thought we had some good possessions in the first half and they scored on the only good opportunity they created,” Linsly head coach Greg Martin said. “I thought we had 5 or 6 shots on target in the first half, and we felt like we were right there with them. But that early second goal really hurt. Then our discipline problems started.”

Galloway banged a shot off the post to Iglesias’s left in the 47th minute and caromed off a Linsly player and out of bounds for a corner kick. On Brennan Rice’s throw-in, Galloway leaped high above the crowd of players to head the ball into the back of the net.

The match got a little chippier than it already was late as a total of eight yellow cards and three red cards were handed out. St. Clairsville finished with 10 players on the pitch, while the Cadets had just nine.

Both coaches agreed discipline problems are a concern moving forward.

“That is something we need to clean up. We’ll be playing a man down on Saturday,” Roberts said.

Roberts cited the play of Causey and James Parsons, especially on the defensive end of the field.

Talon Rice made five saves, all in the first half, to earn the shutout.

Iglesias finished with seven stops.

St. Clairsville defeated Beaver Local 1-0 early in the season on the road. The Beavers are the defending champions, having rolled past Weir 8-1 last fall at Wheeling Island Stadium.