Wheeling Park Boys Shut Out Cardinals, Now One Win Away From State Tournament
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WHEELING -- The Wheeling Park Patriots are the top seed in their WVSSAC Class AAAA North Region tournament, and showed just why Monday night vs. No. 9 Spring Mills.
Park cruised to a 6-0 shutout victory over the Cardinals at Wheeling Island Stadium, advancing to host a Regional Co-Final on Thursday.
To head coach Mario Julian, the win was a return to form for the Patriots, who had gone 1-3-1 over their last five games, their only three losses of the season.
"We needed to regroup after the last five games," Julian said. "It was just tough to score. And the competition was really tough. We knew coming in-- we played them earlier, Spring Mills-- and it was 3-1. We beat them at their place. We knew it could be a tough game.
"We had the right attitude coming in. Kids were really focused and wanted to get the playoffs started off on the right foot."
Isaac Welling scored a brace of goals for Park in the victory, while four other players all put one through.
Welling, Brayden Hedges and Aiden McCroskey each scored in the first half for a 3-0 scoreboard heading into the locker rooms.
Welling got Park off on the right foot to start the second half, scoring just a few minutes after the break, before Graham Loy and Caleb Stauver also got in on the action.
"We don’t have the 25-goal scorer like we’ve had in the past, but we’ve got a bunch of guys chipping in and getting goals," Julian said. "And it’s a really tight-knit group of players, a lot of seniors, and they look forward to big games."
McCroskey had two assists for Park, while Hedges and Tristin Gonzalez also tallied assists.
Wheeling Park has another big game Thursday, where they will host No. 5 Hedgesville, who defeated Musselman on Monday.