Whaley's OT winner sends Flyers to District Finals

JACKSON — Geology is the study of pressure and time.

And one could say the Saint Joseph Flyers know a thing or two about pressure and time.

After enduring immense pressure on the defensive end, Saint Joseph struck at the right time on Jack Whaley's game-winning goal in overtime to help the Flyers upset the South Webster Jeeps 2-1 in the Division 5 district semifinals on Tuesday.

The Flyers (12-5-2) will be making their first appearance in the district finals since 2022. They'll face top-seeded Fayetteville-Perry Rockets in the title game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Alumni Stadium in Jackson.

Fayetteville-Perry (16-1-1) blanked Northwest 4-0 in the other semifinal game. The Rockets only loss was 6-1 to Legacy Christian Academy of Xenia and the tie was against North Adams.

South Webster (9-7-3) beat the Flyers earlier in the season 4-3 and third in a highly-competitive SOC 2 division this fall.

Early on, the Jeeps applied pressure on the offensive end with plenty of scoring chances around the net but couldn't get anything into the net.

One of those chances came about midway through the first came during a corner kick that Belford's header hit the crossbar and ricocheted back out in front of the net, but Jaheim Froe's put back attempt was too strong and sailed way over the net.

The Flyers would stun the Jeeps with the opening goal to take the early advantage.

On the scoring sequence, Beckham Waginger sent a free kick into the box and when South Webster tried to clear it back out, Waginger was there again with a header to send it down to Whaley along the far sideline.

Whaley then threaded a cross pass between 4 defenders to Mason Weber and the senior midfielder faked out the goalie and punched the ball into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead at the 9:15 mark of the first half.

"That was a big goal. (South Webster) had been pressuring us on the other end and we finally got a great look for ourselves and made the play," said Balestra.

South Webster would miss out again on another scoring chance with under three minutes in the half when Caden Johnson centered a pass to Kelvyn Purcell at the top of the box, but Purcell's strike went directly into the arms of Peyton Ford for the save.

The Jeeps would finally even the game even things up to begin the second half by using some precision passing to get the goal.

Cole Belford initiated the tic-tac-toe play when he brought the ball up the home side towards the corner, made a quick pass off to Braxton Vicars to his right. And in rapid succession, Vicars made a centering pass to Cole Bennett for the quick one-timer to beat the goalie and make it 1-all.

South Webster would continue to apply pressure offensively and generate several scoring chances to win it in regulation, but each time they would come up empty.

Their first chance to take the lead at the 22:40 mark when Belford lined up for a free kick just outside the penalty box. Belford's strike was just off its mark as it grazed the top of the post. Bedford would get another free kick with 8:33 to go but his kick would be swept aside by Ford who reached up with his right hand and punched the ball away from squeezing under the crossbar.

In the overtime period, the Jeeps had two chances to win but missed the mark. First, it was Purcell's free kick that pinged off the crossbar and then shortly after it was Ford denying Froe's header off a corner kick.

But the third chance would come to the Flyers and they would make it count.

Weber would clear the ball with a booming kick into South Webster's end and the ball would continue to roll when a Jeep defender misfired their kick attempt and allow Whaley a one-on-one chance.

Whaley would pull the trigger from the right side and send the ball into the far left pocket of the net and set off a celebration

Balestra was relieved that his team was able to find a way to generate a scoring chance after spending much of the second half and overtime on the defensive end.

"We needed to find a way to make a scoring play for ourselves and Mason's kick got the right bounce and Jack made a tremendous effort to not quit on the play and get us the win."

St. Joseph 1 0 1 = 2

South Webster 0 1 0 = 1

First Half

SJ — Mason Weber (Jack Whaley assist), 31:00.

Second Half

SW — Cole Bennett (Braxton Vicars assist), 36:00.

Overtime

SJ — Jack Whaley (unassisted), 4:00