No. 15 Shady Side Academy edges Quaker Valley in OT to win WPIAL Class AA boys soccer crown
By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, November 4, 2017 | 3:45 PM
string(184) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Landon Grant battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV07-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Landon Grant battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(187) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers heads the ball next to Shady Side Academy's Adrian Beckford during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV08-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers heads the ball next to Shady Side Academy's Adrian Beckford during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(188) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Franky Fernandez battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV06-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Franky Fernandez battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(189) "Desc: Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker heads the ball in front of Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV05-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker heads the ball in front of Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(179) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Fritz Reiter battles Shady Side Academy's Ben Ream for a header during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV09-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Fritz Reiter battles Shady Side Academy's Ben Ream for a header during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(184) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Landon Grant battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV07-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Landon Grant battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(187) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers heads the ball next to Shady Side Academy's Adrian Beckford during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV08-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers heads the ball next to Shady Side Academy's Adrian Beckford during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(188) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Franky Fernandez battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV06-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Franky Fernandez battles Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker for the ball during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(189) "Desc: Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker heads the ball in front of Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV05-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Shady Side Academy's Thomas Spiker heads the ball in front of Quaker Valley's Ian Rodgers during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
string(179) "Desc: Quaker Valley's Fritz Reiter battles Shady Side Academy's Ben Ream for a header during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium."
string(41) "Capt: Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review"
string(25) "Title: GTR-SSAQV09-110517"
string(6) "Cred: "
Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
Quaker Valley's Fritz Reiter battles Shady Side Academy's Ben Ream for a header during the boys WPIAL Class AA championship game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, at Highmark Stadium.
Seeding doesn't matter to Shady Side Academy — WPIAL championships do.
The 15th-seeded Indians achieved their goal Saturday with a thrilling 3-2 double-overtime win against top-seeded Quaker Valley in the Class AA championship at Highmark Stadium.
“It's fabulous for our team,” said Shady Side's Wally Navid, who scored the team's final two goals. “The whole team fought together.”
Shady Side's magical postseason run continued against the Quakers (19-2-0), who beat the Indians in last year's WPIAL championship (2-1) and PIAA semifinal (1-0).
“To be honest, I've said it several times, we know who we are,” Shady Side coach Ed Ellsworth said. “We have good players, and we know our strengths. We lost a bunch of games in overtime and late. We replaced eight starters from last year's WPIAL finalist team, and it was a process. The kids never stopped believing.”
The Indians (13-7-1) knocked off South Park, Waynesburg, Central Valley and Quaker Valley en route to the program's first WPIAL title.
“I don't look at us as a No. 15 seed. We knew we were a good team. We just had a lot of players that were younger and were developing throughout the year,” Shady Side goalkeeper Chester Todd said. “As you can see, it paid off. I couldn't be more proud of them.”
Franky Fernandez put Quaker Valley ahead 1-0 just 6 minutes, 19 seconds into the match. Close to the far post, he took a short pass from Bando Grant and knocked a rolling shot past Todd.
Shady Side tied it at 1-all when Ben Ream converted a penalty kick. He was tripped in the penalty box with 27:09 left in the first half. His shot beat goalkeeper Dom Lagnese.
Grant gave Quaker Valley a 2-1 edge with 8:44 left in regulation. He slipped through the Indians' defense and lofted a shot past Todd.
Navid scored off a bicycle kick with 1:29 remaining in regulation to tie it.
“I knew we were coming hard,” Todd said. “You could feel something was coming our way.”
Navid provided the golden goal with 8:26 left in the second overtime. The ball deflected in front of the Quaker Valley goal to a crowd of players. Navid used a bicycle kick to get a piece of the ball, and it went into the net.
“I don't even know what happened,” Navid said. “Max (Farner) flicked it on, and I just tried to bike it. It might have hit Adrian (Beckford) before it went in, but it doesn't really matter because our team won. It's fantastic.”
Both teams advance to the PIAA tournament. Quaker Valley meets St. Marys and Shady Side takes on Fairview on Tuesday.
“We started the season kind of poor, but, as a team, we came together and accomplished our goal. It's great,” Navid said. “We're going to go into states, and we'll try to win as a team.”
