The Maroon Knights claimed their first-ever 1A-3A OVAC Championship in a nail-biting PK shootout victory over Steubenville Catholic at Wheeling Island Stadium.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Wheeling Central head coach Brian Komoroski said. “It’s eluded us forever. I feel great for these guys, they put in so much time, we’ve been so close so many years. Finally to be able to pull it out, it’s a great feeling.”

Tied 1-1 after 80 minutes of regulation, neither team could find the back of the net through two five-minute overtimes, leading to a penalty kick shootout. It was the second straight game that went to a shootout for Steubenville Catholic, who defeated Linsly in the semifinals.

This time though, it would be Wheeling Central who emerged victorious.

Dominic Gianangeli, Carter Oliver, Mason Smith and finally Tino Sperlazza all made their penalty kicks, Sperlazza’s the game-winner for a 4-2 PK victory. Andrew Rohde and Brandan Kuebler each made penalty kicks for Steubenville Catholic.

Sperlazza made a pair of saves in the shootout before nailing the final kick of the championship game.

“That’s a situation, you practice them, you figure out who can hit them and who can’t. But it’s not just who can hit them, it’s who can hit them when they’re tired and mentally exhausted,” Komoroski said of the shootout. “We knew the ones who could take it, and we knew the ones who wanted to take it. They stepped up and did a great job. Tino in the net- for him to be able to make a great save and then step up and make the game-winner, it’s just an unbelievable thing.”

In order to even get out of regulation was a monumental task for the Crusaders.

After a scoreless first half which saw multiple close calls for both teams, Smith got Wheeling Central on the board in the 52nd minute, firing a long-range missile which snuck just under the crossbar and just over the outstretched arm of the keeper.

Defenses tightened up again after that, and with the game coming down to the final minute, a 1-0 defensive victory for the Maroon seemed fated.

Kuebler changed that fate for the Crusaders in the 79th minute, knocking in a header on a clean cross by Jonah Lesnefsky in a remarkable game-tying play.

“We showed a lot of heart, it was a great effort on our part,” Steubenville Catholic head coach Steve Kopcha said. “Both teams played exceptionally well today. We were able to keep working- it took us about 79 minutes, we used about every minute that we could to even things back up. It’s just a credit to how hard they were playing today and how hard we had to work against a quality opponent like Wheeling Central.”

Sperlazza and Crusaders keeper Joseph Vranish each made diving stops to preserve the tie in the first overtime, and the second overtime ended on bated breath, with the buzzer sounding just as the ball was up for grabs in a scrum directly in front of the Maroon Knights’ goal.

Riding high off their first 1A-3A OVAC Championship, the Maroon Knights are now fixing their sights on the postseason.

“First thing we’ve got to do is clean up some of our injuries,” Komoroski said. “We’ve got to rest some guys, we’ve got some ankles, some nagging things, our guys need rest. You’re trying to get through this day, but now we have a tough back-half of the season. But that’s what we put it together for, so that we can get ready for OVAC’s, then get ready for states, and hopefully we can have another run like we did last year.”

Before that though, the Maroon Knights get back to the regular season against Oak Glen on Oct. 2. The Crusaders’ next meeting will be at home against John Marshall on Oct. 3.