Wheeling Park And Woodrow Wilson Play To Tie In Season Opener
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BECKLEY -- Woodrow Wilson and Wheeling Park have developed a friendly rivalry from opposite ends of the state.
On Wednesday, the Flying Eagles made sure the Patriots didn't make a victorious trip home.
Park erased a 1-0 deficit with two second-half goals, but Kofi Ackon-Annan scored with 41.8 seconds to go for a 2-2 draw to open the season at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex. Woodrow (0-0-1) is now 1-3-1 in its last five meetings with the Patriots. The win was in the one that mattered, a 3-2 double overtime victory in the Class AAA state semifinals during the Flying Eagles' championship season of 2024.
"Mario (Julian, Wheeling Park head coach) is a very good friend of mine. He’s an excellent coach, and we love playing them, whether it’s here or up there," Woodrow Wilson coach Steve Laraba said. "'It's a fun game. It’s the type of game that people want to play in and be a part of. Wheeling Park, they’re good people."
"We love coming here," Julian echoed, "and I know they like coming up to Wheeling when we play. Steve and I have become good friends over the years. We’ve both been (coaching) quite a long time now."
None of the last five games has been decided by more than one goal. Ackon-Annan made sure Woodrow broke even this time around. Aiden McCroskey punched one in from the right side to put the Patriots (0-0-1) ahead 2-1 in the 56th minute. It looked like that's the way it would end until Ackon-Annan broke the Patriots' hearts.
The senior was in the right spot to react to a Hagen Hall carom and raced the ball just beyond the reach of 6-foot-5 keeper Jacob Robinson III to knot things up. Laraba was happy with his team's poise in the situation.
"I’m proud of how they didn’t quit," Laraba said. "We're 90 seconds (left) in the game. We have a free kick on our end of the field, and we don’t just crush it up the field. We play out. We find Hagen in some space and he drives in the box, takes a shot that’s deflected, and Kofi’s still running forward and we get the equalizer. So that’s very good. It’s a very positive thing for me."
"They kept most of the possession, but we had a game plan and we executed pretty well," Julian said. "We came out in the second half with an idea how to score a couple goals on them, and we did, and we got real defensive there. It’s always hard to defend for the last 25 minutes, and we did a pretty good job until 41 seconds."
Woodrow needed just two minutes and 47 seconds to draw first blood. Ali Farghaly found Dylan Basconi with a cross and Basconi sent the ball in for a 1-0 lead that held until halftime as the Flying Eagles dictated possession.
The second half was largely the opposite. The Patriots needed just 40 seconds longer in the half than Woodrow did at the start to score its first goal. Brayden Hedges got loose with the ball and fired a high shot through the arms of keeper Lincoln Cavanaugh for the equalizer. Woodrow finished with eight shots on goal.
The Patriots will host Jefferson on Saturday at 2 p.m. Woodrow will travel to North Marion that day for a 1 p.m. start.