Stadium Sendoff: PHS seniors win final home match
Parkersburg’s Kellan Villarreal (7) uses his body to deflect a pass from Riverside’s Kasen Garten (17) during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Tanner Conley, left, goes nose-to-nose with the ball while being defended by Riverside’s Ayden Comer (11) during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Rowen Postelwait leaps over Riverside’s Eli Taft (8) while chasing down a loose ball during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg senior Joe Graziani (20) splits two Riverside defenders – Kasen Garten (17) and Noah Redman (2) – during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Sam Hoye (12) is unable to keep the ball from going out of bounds during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match against Riverside at Stadium Field.
Members of the Parkersburg boys soccer team gather for a team huddle prior to the start of Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Kellan Villarreal (7) uses his body to deflect a pass from Riverside’s Kasen Garten (17) during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Tanner Conley, left, goes nose-to-nose with the ball while being defended by Riverside’s Ayden Comer (11) during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Rowen Postelwait leaps over Riverside’s Eli Taft (8) while chasing down a loose ball during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg senior Joe Graziani (20) splits two Riverside defenders – Kasen Garten (17) and Noah Redman (2) – during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match at Stadium Field.
Parkersburg’s Sam Hoye (12) is unable to keep the ball from going out of bounds during Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round soccer match against Riverside at Stadium Field.
Members of the Parkersburg boys soccer team gather for a team huddle prior to the start of Thursday’s Class AAAA Southern Regional first round match at Stadium Field.
Trending
PARKERSBURG - Going out in style.
The three seniors on the Parkersburg boys soccer program - Kingston James, Joe Graziani and Griffin Peters - arrived at Stadium Field for their final home match of their high school careers. And the Big Reds did not let them down on the pitch.
Behind a pair of goals from Jack Hoye in the first half and another two scores from Daniel Braniff after intermission, PHS routed Riverside 8-1 in a Class AAAA Southern Regional first round match.
James capped off the team's five goals before halftime with his last home goal as a Big Red.
"It's been a rough season, but I love playing at the Stadium," James said after the seventh-seeded Big Reds improved to 4-12-4. "Over my four years here, I have made a lot of lifetime, lifelong friends. We've had good coaching for a team that is very young. We lost 11 seniors after last season, so it was a tough offseason.
"We put in the work. Praise God that I got the experience."
Peters has been hampered by a hamstring injury since early in the season. He did not dress on Thursday but did fulfill the role as team manager.
"It was very heartbreaking not being on the field," Peters said. "It was hard to play soccer when you are only going 70% because you are hurt. But I'll have memories of the friends and people I've met throughout.
"I still remember my first goal at PHS as a freshman on junior varsity. I hit the crossbar. I remember the seniors - they are long gone by now - but they were chanting my name from the stands. That's a memory I will never forget."
Graziani kept his answer simple and to the point about his last experience at Stadium Field.
"We get to go home with a win," Graziani said. "It's the last one us seniors will ever have here at our home field."
As for the match, PHS for the most part duplicated the outcome from a regular season meeting at Riverside when the Big Reds posted a 7-0 shutout.
This time around, the communication on the pitch left an impression with the coaching staff.
"We moved the ball well," PHS coach Ben Jones said. "Once we quit forcing things down the field, everything opened up.
"You can't take anybody for granted come playoff time. One game, anything can happen. The first time we played them, Joe scored in the first 10 seconds. It was crazy because you never know how games are going to go if you don't do something like that."
Six minutes elapsed in the first half before Villarreal put PHS on the board. Goals from Hoye and Theean Fields over the next 10 minutes created a 3-0 lead.
With just less than 13 minutes remaining before halftime, Hoye added his second goal. In the final minute, James chased down a through ball for another goal and gave the Big Reds a 5-0 lead.
In the second half, PHS struck quickly. Stationed in front of the goal waiting for a scoring opportunity, Sam Hoye made Riverside pay when his defender was unable to clear the ball. Sam Hoye took the turnover and basically tapped the ball inside the net.
With the starters settled in on the sidelines, the PHS reserves tacked on two goals when Braniff scored twice within a three-minute span and increased the gap to 8-0 with 13:14 remaining in regulation.
Of the goals scored by PHS, five were scored by either freshmen and sophomores. Peters remembers being that age and how everything has come full circle.
"Actually, the underclassmen did a pretty good job being mature enough and I think Ben steps in pretty good being like a parent figure to shut them down pretty good," Peters smiled. "Other than that, they are goofballs. They are young. I mean, they are freshmen. What are you going to do?"
Riverside spoiled the shutout bid at the 9:25 mark on a goal from Jayce Brenwald. PHS starting keeper Daniel Braniff turned in a clean slate in the first half, while Ayden Runnion played the second half - giving up the one goal but redeeming himself with a pair of saves in the final nine minutes.
"The boys were ready for tonight," Jones said.
The reward for winning leaves the Big Reds making a road trip to No. 2 Hurricane in a quarterfinal match scheduled for Monday. The two teams met on Sept. 29 with Hurricane pulling off a 6-2 win.
"It's going to take all these kids playing as hard as they possibly can - it's going to be a challenge," Jones said. "We can't make the big mistakes. Hurricane scored two goals on free kicks where we were setting the wall. There wasn't a dead ball, so they were able to just shoot it.
"Our kids have been fighting all year. I think we left (Hurricane) thinking we can play with this team. It will be a tough hurdle, but we are going to be prepared to go down there and give them our best shot."
Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com
Class AAAA Southern Regional
First Round
At Stadium Field
Parkersburg 8, Riverside 1
RIV (4-16-0) 0 1 - 1
PHS (4-12-4) 5 3 - 8
First Half
PHS: Kellan Villarreal, 33:57
PHS: Jack Hoye, 25:07
PHS: Theean Fields, 22:47
PHS: Jack Hoye, 12:48
PHS: Kingston James, 1:06
Second Half
PHS: Sam Hoye, 38:45
PHS: Daniel Braniff, 16:33
PHS: Daniel Braniff, 13:14
RIV: Jayce Brenwald, 9:25
Next match: Class AAAA Southern Regional quarterfinal, Parkersburg at Hurricane, Monday