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Bucs advance to sectional title game

The Inter-Mountain photos by Tony Baisi Buckhannon-Upshur senior Christopher Hollen drives the ball into Preston territory Tuesday as the Bucs work on a 3-1 win in order to advance to the Class AAA Region I Section 2 championship game on Thursday.

TENNERTON — Preston took an early 1-0 lead in a Class AAA Region I Section 2 contest that featured aggressive postseason play, with a total of 5 yellow cards issued at Ted Crites Alumni Field Tuesday.

Hosting Buckhannon-Upshur High School, however, bounced back to have the match level at 1-1 when intermission began. The Buccaneers went on to find the net twice more in the second half to garner a 3-1 victory while advancing to the section title game on Thursday to be hosted at B-UHS.

“This was another big turnaround for us in the second half,” veteran B-U coach Mike Donato said. “We had some young guys step up big for us in Hurst and Sandreth. They had a solid performance and I was proud of their effort tonight.

“Our backline made another solid effort tonight. We surrendered the goal early but did a great job in shutting down their attack particularly in the second half, surrendering zero shots on goal,” he said.

Monty Rebelo put the Knights up 1-0 at 12 minutes into the contest with a keeper deflection put back. Tom David Bosien assisted a goal scoring Ryan Hurst as the duo attacked inside the 18 yard line to make it 1-1 with 6 minutes remaining in the first half.

Hurst went right back to work in the first minute of the second period with a 2-1 go ahead goal. Tyler Sandretch capped the match’s scoring with an assist from Hurst as the game clock was ticking at less than 4 minutes remaining in the contest between the only two AAA schools in the Big 10 Conference.

Buckhannon out-peppered Preston with a 17-4 shots on goal count, and blanked the Knights with 5 corner kick tries to none taken by the visitors. Peyton Fazenbaker stayed busy at the goal keeper position for PHS with 14 saves. Logan Kelley defended the Buccaneers’ net with 3 stops.

The WVSSAC whistles were busy also during a physical game as a total of 34 fouls were called during the contest, B-UHS with 19, and Preston with 15. Buckhannon notched 3 yellow cards in the first half after Zach Ward and Dawson Carpenter were assigned unsporting infractions, and head coach Mike Donato raised his own concerns for a sideline penalty. Preston’s Junior Noss was called for a reckless challenge, and Clayton Collins collected an unsporting card.

Buckhannon-Upshur will await the winner of the other side of the section between Morgantown and University for a title match on Thursday. The Bucs beat both the Mohigans and the Hawks during the regular season. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. at B-UHS on Thursday.

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