Sentinel photo by JEFF FISHBEIN
Midd-West’s Stefan Leitzel (7) is pursued by Tyler Wagner Saturday in Lebanon.

LEBANON — The Midd-West boys soccer team and coach Chris Sauer scored certainly one of the biggests win in school history with a 1-0 victory over Lancaster Mennonite on a windy and raw Saturday in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 2A tournament.

The Blazers, four-time state finalists in the past seven years, walked off the pitch in stunned silence while the Mustangs celebrated with fist pumps and high fives.

Midd-West (21-2) advances to the semifinals for the second time in school history where they will meet District 3 runner-up Fleetwood, a 3-1 winner over Notre Dame-Green Pond, on Tuesday at at 7 p.m. at Central Dauphin’s Landis Field. The Mustangs made the final four in 2009.

“This is definitely up there as one of our signature wins with some of our teams in the early 2000s who made some noise at the state tournament,” Sauer said. “This group has been so resilient, they work so hard and they’ve had a lot of people not believe in them after losing a really talented senior class last year. To come in and perform like this today is fantastic. It’s unreal. It’s right up there as one of the biggest wins we’ve had.”

The Wildcats broke the scoreless tie with the game-winner coming when Carter Knepp scoring his 33rd goal of the year with 13:14 left in regulation.

It was a little give-and-go action from Knepp and Evan Eppley that broke the deadlock. Knepp stole the ball at midfield, passed it to Eppley who dribbled down the left sideline before feeding it back into the middle of the field where a waiting Knepp put it in the back of the net.

“I played it through to Evan Eppley and then I ran through and he bent it across right towards me in the middle of the box. I was thinking, don’t screw it up,” Knepp said “It’s the best thing that’s happened all season, finally getting past that district final loss, setting some things right and moving forward to the semifinals. It feels amazing. I’m kind of at a loss for words right now.”

The swirling, gusty winds wreaked havoc all game long, so Sauer wanted his charges to play the ball quickly, counter fast and play smart defense. The game plan worked to perfection.

“This wind is crazy. It’s difficult to clear a ball, difficult to cross a ball. We had to be able to connect on the turf a little bit,” Sauer said. “With us, we like to get the ball out very quickly. We wanted to counter fast. We needed to defend smart, defend well and then we had the opportunities to attack quickly from the outsides. The goal came from us winning the ball in the middle, playing it wide quickly with a very quick counter-attack, exactly like we talked about doing.”

Lancaster Mennonite (19-6) had its best chance to score occur in the second half near the 20-minute mark. Forward Tyler Wagner beat his defender and ripped a shot that bounced off the left post. The was briefly loose after that and could have crossed the goal line before Mustang keeper Chase Roush corralled in.

In the first half, the Blazers got Wagner free on a break but his shot was stuffed on a diving save by Roush, who finished with five. Midd-West dominated the opening 10 minutes, controlling time of possession with Eppley and Aiden Steininger peppering hard shots on Lancaster Mennonite goalie Gabe Willig. After the initial rush by the Mustangs, the game settled down into a defensive battle.

Midd-West outshot Lancaster Mennonite 11-7 and won the corner battle 3-1.

“We spent a lot of time talking after the district final (a loss to Lewisburg) regrouping and telling these guys they belong here,” Sauer said. “We told them they can compete and beat these teams. They can defeat some of the best teams in the state like Lancaster Mennonite. They have a fantastic team and a great program.”

The loss in the District 4 final lit a fire under the Mustangs and now, fueled by the power of belief and a dash of self-confidence, they are standing on the brink of their first state finals appearance.

“We believe in each other and that’s all that matters now. They think every time they step onto the field, they can beat anybody,” Sauer said. “They work so hard for each other and it shows. These guys do the work. They’ve also done everything I’ve asked them to. We’ll take it. We’re excited, very excited.”

Midd-West 1, Lancaster Mennonite 0

Midd-West 0 1 – 1

Lancaster Mennonite 0 0 – 0

Second half

MW-Carter Knepp (Evan Eppley), 66:46.

Shots: MW-11-7. Corners: MW 3-1. Saves: MW-5 (Chase Roush); LM-8 (Gabe Willig)