Williamson boys beat Hughesville 3-1 to advance to district semifinals
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MILTON -- With less than two minutes on the scoreboard at Milton's Alumni Stadium, Hughesville's forwards and midfielders were doing everything they could do to put in a goal.
There was a quick flurry of a few looks and shots in those final 120 seconds, but Williamson's back line and keeper Brayden Baker refused to let a goal slip by. The Warriors held strong and denied Hughesville a win, as Williamson left Milton with a 3-1 win in the District 4 Class AA quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.
"Very happy. I knew they could do it. We know what they're capable of, we've seen it all season and they've been a strong team," Williamson coach Kyle Adriance said. "You saw it today, they played really well. I'm proud of them."
Williamson had a strong overall performance. The Warriors' defense did well in limiting Hughesville's chances and shutting down standout Carter Gormont, Hughesville's junior striker who has an impressive 40 goals this year. Gormont did record an assist, but was held out of the back of the net.
Hughesville had just one shot on goal through the first 50 minutes of play.
"I mean, our defensive structure has been the thing that's kept us going throughout the game. We have a very strong back line, we're really tight in the midfield. Things can be strong there and they can play out of pressure really well," Adriance said. "We're structured, we're organized and they work together as a team. There's no one player I can pick out of the team that does one job over another. They're all very crucial to each other. When one makes a mistake, other's right there to help.
"When you only have 14 goals all season (allowed, including Saturday), it should have been less, but that's why," Adriance continued. "They're defensively sound, they're structured, they're organized and very smart back there."
Hughesville ended with three shots on goal. But, despite only a few shots on frame, Hughesville battled until the final horn went off at Milton, trying to keep battling and put in a goal to try to rally late in the match.
"I was very proud of them fighting until the bitter end," Hughesville coach Cole Lesher said. "Not everything is going to work out the way we wanted in certain plays, but the fact they kept fighting through that showed a lot of character. That was definitely a good sign."
Williamson scored just five minutes into the game. Benjamin Bower got to 10 yards out on the near side of the field and rifled a hard shot to the far-right post for a fast 1-0 lead.
"There's a lot of nerves with a game like this. We've never played Hughesville, so we don't know how the game’s going to go," Adriance said. "You look at seedings, but that doesn't really tell a story. I think that (goal) was a big moment that really pushed us and made us believe."
Hughesville's best chance to score came with 13:06 remaining in the first half. Hughesville's Bradley Mackenzie got down the right side of the field outside of the 18 and passed to his left to the feet of junior Patrick Stine. The Spartan tried to chip in a shot, but it went just narrowly high over the goal, preventing what would have been a big game-tying goal.
Both teams kept up pressure and Williamson was able to put in a big second goal right before the half. With 4:15 remaining in the first half, Williamson received a penalty kick call and Bower lined up and sent it to his right for the 2-0 lead.
"He changes games. He absolutely changes games," Adriance said about Bower. "He can break things down for us, he can stop threats and then he can create them for the other team. He is a key, crucial player and just an all-around great player."
That second goal was huge for Williamson in shifting momentum right before halftime.
"We were talking about just cleaning some little things, small mistakes, too, that we can just keep the ball, find feet a little bit more and a few missed passes. Trying to be more direct, playing more of a pinball style or possession style is what we wanted to revert back to," Lesher said of the team's halftime talk. "I think they did a good job doing that. Shame some of the goals didn't go in, but they made a lot of good plays and a lot of good combinations with one another."
Williamson kept up the pressure to start the second half and with 31:11 to play the Warriors broke through. That's when Williamson's Reed Vargeson got a breakaway from 30 yards out and got inside of the 18 and, with a 1-v-1 look with backup keeper Riley Smith, was able to send a shot to the far-right post for a 3-0 lead and put the Spartans in a huge hole with time not on their side.
"I would agree, just a lot of things that were very close. Lots of control in midfield, but the final pass was slightly off and just kind of stopped a run," Lesher said. "They did a very good job. I don't think the score was as representative of how they played. Hopefully we'll do better next time."
Smith came in during the first half when starter Royce Gardner exited with an injury. The freshman played well in relief though, keeping the game close as he came up with three saves in his time in the net, keeping Williamson from increasing the lead even further.
"Riley's a freshman and he's been working so hard this year, too. He's always ready. I think he made a ton of really good saves for us. There's a few things that showed a little bit in time we'll fix, little mistakes, but everyone makes those," Lesher said. "He's been a work horse and super coachable kid. I'm very proud of him today too, I know that could not have been easy stepping in and at the last minute being told to go into a playoff game for the first time. But, he did a great job."
Hughesville struck with 24:15 left in the game when Gormont fed a pass to Peyton Hartman, who buried it from 10 yards out inside the left post to make it a 3-1 deficit. That was the closest Hughesville came to rallying, however.
The win advances third-seeded Williamson to Tuesday's District 4 Class AA semifinals against second-seeded Lewisburg at Balls Mills at 7 p.m. This marks new territory for Williamson's program, as it's the first time in the 2000s that Williamson has reached a district semifinal.
"Honestly, I can't go back long enough, but it might be the first time. ... Regardless of that, it's huge. This is the first season since I played in 2003, since we won our league, the NTL," Adriance said. "So we've done that this year and then it was like OK, that job's done and let's move on to the next.
"We're going to keep going until our time runs out," the coach continued. "No expectations. We'll just work our butts off and take what we get at the end of the day. It's awesome for them."
Williamson 3, Hughesville 1
(DISTRICT 4 CLASS AA QUARTERFINALS)
W--Benjamin Bower, 35:29. W--Bower (penalty kick), 4:15. W--Reed Vargeson, 31:11. H--Peyton Hartman (Carter Gormont), 24:15.
Shots: H 3, W 7. Corners: H 0, W 5. Saves: H 3 (Royce Gardner 0, Riley Smith 3), W 2 (Brayden Baker).
Records: Hughesville (9-9-1), Williamson (14-2-2).