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Warrior magic: Warren notches another late goal to beat Gallia, advance to district final

By Jay W. Bennett 6 min read

LOGAN -- Warren's Jonah Hollis secured his third consecutive postseason shutout here Wednesday night while Jackson Perdue tallied the lone goal of the match as the seventh-seeded Warriors eliminated sixth-seeded Gallia Academy, 1-0, in a Division III Southeast District semifinal at Chieftain Stadium.

The Warriors had to get past No. 10 Miami Trace (2-0) and No. 2 seed Athens (1-0) before making it back to Logan and taking on the Blue Devils in what was a rematch of last year's semifinal that GAHS head coach Cory Camden's squad won 1-0.

However, the Warriors (9-7-3) weren't going to be denied this time and with just four seconds remaining in the 78th minute Perdue took a feed from Liam Grosselin and blistered a shot toward keeper Maddux Delaney, who made a diving save attempt but the ball went inside the far left post after clipping a defender.

Now, WHS will move on to face No. 5 Fairfield Union, which upset top-seeded Jackson 2-1 in overtime, at 4 p.m. Saturday back at Chieftain Stadium.

"I knew throughout the entire game that the midfield was open and this is me and Liam's like almost 10th year of playing soccer together, so we always just click like that," Perdue said. "That's the second time he's passed it to me and we've hit one almost like a game-winner. It really clicks for us honestly.

"The defender, he went to jump for it and he kind of dodged it, and it just clipped his back and it shifted the ball. I think it still would've gone in, but that's for other people to decide as well. It means a lot. The past two years we've only tied and lost to them, so coming into this game we really wanted to beat them and it shows the passion that we've had for this team for a while since we struggled at the start with a lot of injuries."

Warren, which drew 1-1 with the Blue Devils (14-4-2) more than a month ago in Vincent, enters the district final on a five-match winning streak.

"Same on both sides. Fairfield Union and Jackson. Same exact tournament except for exactly two different winners," said WHS head coach Ben Atkinson. "Last year Jackson. Last year Gallia won and we won and Fairfield Union won. It's always a battle against Gallia. They are extremely athletic and made it super challenging. They had a couple chances. That's the third goal this season that we've scored with around two minutes left to win the game.

"Three in the past like two weeks, so at the very least you can say we're tenacious and we haven't given up. I think we struggled there for a little bit in the second half. They were putting some pressure on us and we were really getting kind of shaken up and we weren't really composed. Once we relaxed here at the end and finally started playing what they were giving us, you know, you take your shots and sometimes you are going to hit them."

Gallia Academy had a trio of shots on goal and a pair that ended up just outside the pipes in the net, but couldn't find a way to beat Hollis. Blue Devil Kyson Mooney had a quality chance in the 45th, but the ball just sailed above the crossbar.

"Literally just from the beginning, we have to be locked in. I believe that's what we did because we showed so much intensity out there," Hollis said. "I mean that's our main thing. To be honest, we are not the most skilled team, but I think we're the most passionate and I really think we can win it all.

"It (watching the goal) was really great, especially since we lost to Gallia the last time. It was an insane shot. All glory to God and during that Athens game, (assistant coach) Ty (Kroner) gave me a pregame speech and that's why I was so turned up."

No one was more stoked to see Perdue find the back of the net than Grosselin, whose tally with six seconds remaining in last Thursday's match eliminated the Bulldogs on their home turf.

"School was pretty boring, but I was pretty hyped to come out here especially against Gallia since we lost 1-0 last year to them," Grosselin said. "I just wanted revenge and I feel like our whole team did.

"We came out here. We came ready. We came ready to play. Jackson with a beautiful finish. I just happened to find him and our team, it's just something special. We feel like we can beat them. We have trust in ourselves and our team and we believe in ourselves."

Despite being doubled up 6-3 by Fairfield Union earlier this season, Atkinson and the Warriors plan to put their best foot forward come Saturday afternoon.

"It was definitely a night that if everything could go wrong everything did go wrong, and they are a good team and well coached," Atkinson said of FUHS. "It definitely will be a big challenge, but just to get to this point for this team for how much adversity we've faced, whether it was Reme (Fairbanks) tearing his ACL after playing only two games or our entire team being injured the first time against Gallia, so it's been such a crazy season. All credit to the players because they've battled so much adversity and even when they got shaken up they played through and finished super strong."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

At Chieftain Stadium

Division III Southeast District Semifinal

Warren 1, Gallia Academy 0

#6 WHS (9-7-3) 0 1 – 1

#7 GAHS (14-4-2) 0 0 – 0

W: Jackson Perdue (assist Liam Grosselin) 78th minute

Shots on goal: W 7, GA 3; Corner kicks: W 2, GA 2; Keeper saves: W 3 (Jonah Hollis), GA 6 (Maddux Delaney)

Next match: #6 Warren vs. #5 Fairfield Union, 4 p.m. Saturday at Logan in the district final.

Starting at /week.