Overtime goal sends DeLaSalle past Athens for regional crown
STERLING HEIGHTS — As overtime games in the postseason often go, it’s normally just one play that can separate a team from the opposition.
Warren DeLaSalle proved that Saturday afternoon at Sterling Heights Stevenson.
The top-ranked Pilots upended unranked Troy Athens, 1-0, in double overtime to claim a Division 1 regional championship and advance to the state semifinals.
UP-AND-ALEX: Troy Athens' Alex Serwatka leaps high for this head ball in a recent game for the Red Hawks. Athens saw its season come to an end Saturday with a 1-0 overtime loss to top-ranked Warren DeLaSalle in the Division 1 regional finals.
It was a play with three minutes to go in the first of two 10-minute overtime periods that saved DeLaSalle’s season and ended Athens’ campaign. Sophomore Louis Zingas scored on a goal-mouth scrum, which provided the difference-maker.
DeLaSalle will play second-ranked Plymouth Canton on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Farmington in the D-1 state semifinals in another battle of state powerhouse programs.
Athens, which had not lost since Sept. 7, finished the season with a fine record of 15-4-1, having gone on a 13-0-1 streak up until the loss to DeLaSalle.
It was the first time since 2002 that Athens, a longtime state power, had played in the regional finals. The Red Hawks also lost that season to Sterling Heights Stevenson in double overtime (2-1).
Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Troy Athens
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