By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Henry Walbaum connected on the game winner with 11:10 remaining in the first overtime as Pittsford Sutherland defeated Churchville-Chili in Tuesday’s Section V Class A championship.
Walbaum one-timed a ball from just outside the six-yard box.
“The ball drifted out wide,” Walbaum said of the play. “Ryan Petrone hit a pretty good ball in. It kinda deflected around and bounced right in front of me. I just had it sitting for me on a silver platter and was able to just tap it in, get the block for our team.”
The sequence started in the middle third where Will Field won possession and played it back to teammate David Adeleke-Adedoyin. Adeleke-Adedoyin worked a combination with Henry Leahy before passing it to Petrone along the left flank.
“When I was running up for it, I was thinking I had to hit it without any hesitation because I knew I would have a person on my back,” Walbaum said. “I was surprised to have that opportunity.”
The two teams had played over 180 minutes of scoreless soccer between them this season with a scoreless draw being the result of a regular season tilt.
“I kept telling the guys ‘you got to be ready to get a cheap one,’” Sutherland head coach Sean Hopkins said. “It might be a deflection. It could be a save that falls at your foot. It was great. We got a cross in from the left side. We’re talking all the time about getting balls in from out wide. They got a touch on it, and Walbaum was there to clean it up. He hit it hard.”
11:10 remaining in the first overtime: Henry Walbaum strikes gold! @SHSsoccersquad 2021 Class A Champs! pic.twitter.com/2pwFipVb41
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 2, 2021
It was Petrone’s sixth assist of the season. The senior midfielder had other opportunities from the wing earlier in the night that didn’t get into the net.
“I got wide and I was in position this time,” he said. “A lot of the other ones I was running and off-balance when I was crossing it. This one I was set, took a touch to the side of the defender and put a good ball in.”
Sutherland averaged nearly four goals per game in their previous five outings, but those games weren’t against a Churchville squad that had limited opponents to less than a goal per game this season.
“We had a few chances, but we’re both really good defensive teams,” Hopkins noted. “Our midfields put a lot of work in. Those opportunities were few and far between. We got lucky on one in overtime.
“We wanted to play a little bit more direct in the first half. We were definitely not on our game in the first half. It was one of those ones where you almost needed a timeout. We couldn’t get anything. Then I felt like it switched in the second half. We turned it on a little bit.”
Jaden Tensley denies Ryan Petrone. 8 to play. No score. pic.twitter.com/Lt7O56MSG6
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 2, 2021
The same two teams met a year ago in the Class A finals. Sutherland won that game, 2-0. The trip to the finals was the third in four years for John Mahoney and his Saints.
“I thought we played really well. It was very similar to the first game,” said Mahoney who is in his 12th year as head coach of Churchville. “Both teams had chances to win it in regulation. We missed one from one yard out. We played well enough to win, but so did they. It’s one of those games that you kinda wish ended in a tie even though you don’t ever want it to end in a tie.”
The title was the third straight for Hopkins and his Knights who have now claimed four sectional championships in nine years.
“It never gets old,” Hopkins said. “It’s such a great feeling.”
Sutherland (No. 2 NYSSWA Class A/17-1-2) advances to play Section VI champion Williamsville South (No. 6 NYSSWA Class A/18-2-0) in Saturday’s New York State Class A Far West Regional. It will be Sutherland’s first trip to regionals since 2017 when the Knights reached the state semi-finals.
“It’s awesome,” Petrone said. “We’re moving on.”
A 7:30 p.m. kickoff is scheduled at Williamsville South High School.
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