By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — When they needed it most, the McQuaid Jesuit Knights relied on something simple.
And the result clinched a trip to a familiar spot.
TJ Parr connected on the game winner less than five minutes into the first extra-time session, and the No. 4 Knights (10-5-1) ousted top-seeded Penfield (9-4-2), 1-0 in Section V Class AAA semifinal action, Monday night.
“Whip one in and get it in a dangerous area,” Parr said. “Have one of our guys that are ball winners, flick it into a place where it can get scored, and just have somebody at the right place in the right time. It happened to perfection.”
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The play started 55 yards from the goal where Adam McLaren served a direct kick into Penfield’s 18-yard box. Riordan Whelehan won a battle in the air and played a head ball to Parr who volleyed a shot under the cross bar.
“We’ve worked on that one,” said McQuaid head coach Jeff Oliver. “It’s nothing that’s very innovative, but, you know, just putting people in an opportunity to make a play, and we think that that’s kind of what happens. Like I said (to the team), one bounce in the box could have gone anywhere and it just happened to go all right.”
The key to the sequence was Whelehan’s “flick” of the ball. The junior center back had pushed upfield for the set piece, and with four Penfield Patriots around him, he was able to redirect the ball from the right side of the 18-yard box to Parr running opposite post.
“It was just a perfect ball put in by Adam McLaren,” Whelehan said. “It’s just all you have to do is a simple flick on. It was all set up for me. I just had the easiest part of it. TJ put it away for us. Just put it there.”
85’ Riordan Whelehan rises up for the flick and TJ Parr finishes as @AthleticsMcQ advances to the AAA final with a 1-nil win over Penfield. https://t.co/Q5jrONGwMY
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 27, 2026
With the win, McQuaid clinched a fifth straight sectional final appearance including the past four in AAA.
“We live for these kind of moments, you know,” Parr said. “That’s why we do this, under the lights, game-winning goals like that. We were just trying to get it done in the end, and we did it.”
The goal was the fifth of the year for the junior center-mid.
“You hope for the knockdown,” Oliver said of the play. “Penfield’s really, really physical and really good on the second balls and on the knockdowns. So you’re hoping, okay, let’s just get the knockdown and give it a chance. So that’s what I’m thinking. And then when it took an extra bounce, it was like uh-oh, we might have some guys getting on the end of that one.”
Last season, Penfield won in extra-time to clinch a spot in the Class AA championship game.
“We got the break last year against Spencerport, and they (McQuaid) got the break against us tonight,” said Penfield head coach John Cotsonas. “We had 11 days of practice before this game. We knew we needed to be smart in the back. We needed to be relentless in front of goal. It was one little slip. It could have gone either way.
“This group is amazing, like an amazing group of young men. And I said to them, I said, the hardest thing is that I can’t go to practice with you tomorrow, because we enjoy you guys so much.”
Penfield took a 1-nil decision when the two teams met in early September.
“Kind of what we knew it would be,” Oliver said. “They’re really good. We got the lucky bounce this time.”
McQuaid will face Fairport in the championship game. The Red Raiders defeated East/Monroe/School Without Walls, 4-nil.
This will be the fourth straight meeting in the sectional finals between the two programs. Fairport has won the past three. The championship game is scheduled for Friday night at Greece Athena High School.
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