Parkersburg tops Hurricane, retains MSAC boys crown

October 14, 2007

By Matt McCartney
For The Charleston Gazette

RIPLEY — Earlier in the season, Parkersburg recorded a 3-0 win over Hurricane to hand the Redskins one of only two losses during the regular season. The Big Reds added a 2-1 win on Saturday in the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship game to successfully defend their conference title.

Hurricane (16-3-1) got things rolling and did so in a hurry. Brooke Paine scored off an assist from Cameron Keenan just 59 seconds into the match to give the Redskins the early lead.

As the half went on, the Big Reds (16-2-2) began taking more control of the ball and limited Hurricane to just three more shots before the break. Parkersburg got a goal from Tim Stephens with 21 minutes left to tie the game.

The second half saw the Big Reds control most all of the action early, forcing the Redskins to play defense much of the way. Hurricane did not take a single shot for the first 23 minutes of the second half, and did not take a shot on goal until 11:44 remained.

Parkersburg got the go-ahead goal from Stephen Griffey with 23:52 remaining. The left net post may have proven to be the Big Reds’ best friend in the game. Josh Cyrus took two shots late in the game that grazed the post, thus preventing two potential scores.

“Parkersburg has a great team and are very well-coached,” Redskin coach Jim Dagostine said. “For years, Parkersburg has proved to have one of the strongest and most-established programs in the state and our team has proven this year that our program is improving and is not far away from that point. Reaching this championship game was important to these kids because they wanted to prove that they belonged here and they did exactly that today.”

Dagostine credited the defensive foursome of Nate Zeli, Stephen Drehoble, Ryan Gdula and Ryan McWatters for limiting the Big Reds to just two goals.

“This is one of the best defensive units anywhere and they played their hearts out today,” Dagostine said.

Parkersburg finished with 10 shots on goal versus four for Hurricane. Freshman Bruce Hale had scored nine goals during the course of the season but was forced into goalkeeping duties after starter Noah Blackhurst dislocated his shoulder last week against Buckhannon-Upshur.

In just his second start in the position, Hale finished with 10 saves — six in the second half.

The third-place game between George Washington and Woodrow Wilson was also scheduled but was canceled.