Whaley's 6 goal night puts Flyers past Pioneers, into district semis

IRONTON — Texas Jack Whaley was up to some new tricks. In fact, he was dishing out a double hat-trick.

The St. Joseph Flyers’ senior soccer standout registered his first career double hat-trick as he scored 6 goals in an 8-1 rout of the Zane Trace Pioneers on Thursday in the Division 5 district quarterfinals.

"I thought we played very well the first 40 minutes, but then (Zane Trace) kind of came out at the beginning of the second half and got a goal out played us at times in that second half," said Flyers coach Mike Balestra.

Barrett Waginger had a strong game as well for the Flyers as he scored a pair of goals and had 2 assists. Whaley also had 2 assists.

Senior Mason Weber also had 2 assists and Flyers’ goalkeeper Peyton Ford had 8 saves.

St. Joseph (11-5-2) quickly took a 3-0 lead as Whaley got a goal with an assist from Waginger at the 29-minute mark and then again 4 minutes later when the Pioneers tried to clear the ball out of the box but were intercepted by Mason Weber, and a pass off a header by Waginger to Whaley along the right side allowed Whaley to hit a strike that went inside the far left post for the 2 goal lead.

"Barrett and Mason did a great job with their passes around the front of the net and Jack was able to get great looks off those passes," said Balestra.

The duo switched roles another 4 minutes later as Waginger got a cross pass from Whaley along the right side towards center and Waginger's one-timer snuck inside the crossbar to make it 3-0.

Whaley finished the half with unassisted goals at the 15 and 7-minute marks.

Zane Trace (6-11-2) scored first to begin the second half at Alex Karwatske was able to get behind the defense for an unassisted goal at the 34-minute mark.

But the Flyers got that goal back as Whaley scored with an assist from Weber with 20 minutes left in the game.

Waginger scored 4 minutes later off a pass from Whaley and then Whaley got the final goal with an assist from Weber with 3 minutes left.

St. Joseph took 27 shots with 13 on goal. Zane Trace took 16 shots with 9 on goal.

The Flyers will play South Webster at 7:30 p.m. in the district semifinals on Tuesday at Jackson’s Alumni Stadium.

Zane Trace 0       1       =       1

St. Joseph 5       3       =       8

First Half

SJ — Jack Whaley (assist Barrett Waginger), 29:00

SJ — Jack Whaley (assist Barrett Waginger), 25:00

SJ — Barrett Waginger (assist Jack Whaley), 21:00

SJ — Jack Whaley (unassisted), 15:00

SJ — Jack Whaley (unassisted), 7:00

Second Half

ZT — Alex Karwatske (unassisted), 34:00

SJ — Jack Whaley (assist Mason Weber), 20:00

SJ — Barrett Waginger (assist Jack Whaley), 16:00

SJ — Jack Whaley (assist Mason Weber), 3:00

———————

Total Shots — St. Joseph 27, Zane Trace 16

Shots on Goal — St. Joseph. 13, Zane Trace 9