It took regulation, plus two overtimes before a winner was decided in the boys soccer tournament game against Elyria Catholic Saturday night, but the Warriors prevailed on penalty kicks to advance in the OHSAA tournament.  WIth the win the Warriors improve to 11-3-3 on the season.

With the score tied 4-4 after regulation, neither team was able to find the back of the net in the two overtime golden goal periods.  The game then went to penalty kicks.  Each team picked five players and the team who makes the most after five kicks is the winner.  The Panthers of Elyria Catholic went first and hit the cross bar on its first kick.  The Warriors Trey Thomas kicked first and scored giving the Warriors a one goal advantage.  The next three Panther players scored, but the Warriors Gavin Clemens, Xander Culbertson, and Reed Martucci also scored keeping the Warrior advantage.  Elyria Catholic's fifth player missed over the goal and the game was over giving the Warriors the sectional title.

Early in the game it was all Warriors.  Xander Culbertson scored two goals for West Branch with the second one coming at the 20:20 mark of the first half on a header after a beautiful corner kick by Reed Martucci.  The Panthers were able to tie the game up with goals at the 7:14 mark and then again with just :16 remaining in the half.

The second half saw the Warriors take the lead early, as Noah scored on a header off another Martucci corner kick giving the Warriors a 3-2 lead with 36:11 to play.  Elyria Catholic tied the game just four minutes later, but Gavin Clemen quickly countered with a goal to once again give the Warriors the lead at 4-3.  The Panthers were not done, however, scoring a goal that deflected off the corner of the cross bar and into the net with 24:32 to tie the game at four.

Both teams continued to press, but were unable to score for the remainder of regulation and the two 15 minute overtime periods.  Devon West was steady in goal with the pressure on, giving the Warriors the opportunity to win it.

The Warriors move on to take on Andrews Osborne Academy in Willoughby on Wednesday at 4:30 PM.  The game time was changed to 4:30 from 7 PM as the Phoenix do not have lights.