Mo Aidja’s overtime goal led West Geauga to a 3-2 win over Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin in the Division II Mentor District championship game on Saturday.
With the win, the Wolverines advanced to the regional tournament for the first time since 2004.
“Too exciting,” West Geauga coach Mario Gerhardt said. “They all stormed onto the field and a minute later all the fans came onto the field. It was pretty exciting for them and obviously for me.”
Aidja gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead with 22:54 left in the first half but the Lions tied it seven minutes later then scored again with two minutes left before halftime to take a 2-1 lead into the break.
The Wolverines didn’t panic.
“They were playing a good game,” Gerhardt said of the Wolverines. “We gave up two goals but the second one I thought there were two guys offsides and I think our players stopped playing for a split second because they thought it was offsides. They shouldn’t stop playing until the ref blows the whistle.”
Despite trailing the Lions at the half, the Wolverines weren’t discouraged.
They kept playing their game and Dave Beattie scored the equalizer with 18:55 remaining in regulation.
“They played Dave very physical,” Gerhardt said. “He said this was the first time ever somebody shattered his shin pad. He had a free kick and put it into the box. There was a lot of traffic in there and somehow it ended up in the back of the net. The goalie might not have seen it.”
Aidja’s game-winner came with three minutes left in the first overtime.
“Somebody pushed the ball through to him in the box and instead of shooting it like he normally does he held the ball and dribbled it a little bit,” Gerhardt said. “It hit the inside post and went in. It happened so fast.”
The Wolverines, who improved to 12-6-1, will play Hubbard (18-0-1) on Wednesday at Twinsburg in the regional semifinals.
“Our confidence level is getting better considering we have a freshman keeper and another freshman starting and one coming off the bench,” Gerhardt said. “They know they can play with the big boys.”
