photo by: Kim North

Wheeling Central’s Grady Mullin (5) winds up for a shot Wednesday night as Parkersburg Catholic’s Jacob Price (2) defends during action from their W.Va. Class AA-A Region I boys’ soccer tournament on the artificial pitch at The Highland Sports Complex

TRIADELPHIA – It’s been said that the toughest tournament game to win is the first one. If that old adage is true, the rest of the W.Va. Class AA-A Region I boys’ soccer tournament had better look out.

Top-seeded Wheeling Central (16-3-1) scored seven times in the first half before coasting to an 8-0 victory over No. 8 Parkersburg Catholic (7-13-1) on the windy and chill-filled outside pitch at The Highland Sports Complex.

With the win, the Maroon Knights advance to Saturday’s Region I semifinals against Wood County Christian which outlasted Tyler Consolidated in a shootout on Wednesday. That match will be played on the J.B. Chambers Recreation Complex Field on 16th Street in East Wheeling. The start time is set for approximately 12:30-1 p.m. and will be played following the girls’ game, which begins at 10:30 a.m.

“We had a tough schedule leading up to this game and our last two outings weren’t our best. I told the kids right before the start of the game ‘you don’t want to be the best team in August, you want to be the best team in October going into November,'” Wheeling Central head coach Brian Komorowski said. “It’s time to be that team.

“I thought we played exceptionally well in the first 40 minutes and it was nice to get a lot of our backups 40 quality minutes of playing time in the tournament,” he added.

Luke Magruder, who had two of Wheeling Central’s net-finders, got the scoring started when he blasted a beautiful feed from Grady Mullin through the legs of Crusaders goalkeeper Treavor Duncan. Mullin carried the ball down the left wing and along the end line before sending the ball to the front of the net. Magruder settled it down, moved to his right and let loose a rocket for a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.

Mullin would finish with a brace and several assists as the Maroon Knights made it 3-0 on back-to-back shots in the 22nd minute. Carter Oliver’s header off a corner kick upped the margin to 4-0 before Mullin found the net in the 34th and early 39th for a 6-0 reading.

JD Schoolcraft’s goal late in the 39th minute made it 7-0 at the half and allowed Komorowski to sub freely in the second half.

Parkersburg Catholic only recorded one shot on goal, that coming in the 41st minute against backup goalkeeper Cade Taylor who came on for starter Tino Sperlazza as they combined on the clean sheet.

“In the first half we really didn’t have to do much defensively. I thought we possessed and passed the ball well, but there were some times when I wished we would’ve shot the ball on net,” Komorowski noted. “It’s tough to say that you want them to be more greedy, but tonight we had opportunities to shoot the ball and didn’t.”