WEST SENECA — Wilson was on the verge of heading to overtime in a scoreless Section VI Class C title game that it had dominated in possession and shots.
Enter one of the unlikeliest heroes: sophomore defender Gage Gallie.
Gallie scored his first goal of the season, a header off a corner kick in the 78th minute, to lift top-seeded Wilson to a 1-0 win over No. 2 Allegany-Limestone and a Class C sectional crown Saturday afternoon at West Seneca East High School.
It’s the Lakemen’s fifth sectional title in school history and second in three years.
“Thank God for my 10th grader,” said Wilson head coach Paul Herrmann. “Without Gage there, we don’t score that goal and we don’t win. Just a fantastic win, a fantastic effort and I can’t ask for a better group of boys.”
Despite having most of the ball and being a man up for over half the game, Wilson (19-0-0) couldn’t find a breakthrough against an Allegany-Limestone (15-3-0) team that stayed in a defensive formation throughout the game.
With just over two minutes remaining, the Lakemen won their ninth corner kick. Senior David Gurski sent in an in-swinging ball toward the top of the six-yard box, with a few Wilson players rushing in from the far post to attack it.
Rising highest was the substitute defender Gallie, who powered in a header past Gators goalkeeper Donovan Booker and promptly set off toward his bench in a state of ecstasy to celebrate.
It was the type of moment nobody could have predicted, not even Gallie himself.
“I definitely was not expecting that,” he said. “Thought it was just another corner kick, but turned out it was the change of the game. … David put in a beautiful corner and just had to get it in.”
The vast majority of Wilson’s offense this year has come through standout forward Aidan Neumann, whose 51 goals on the season puts him within touching distance of top 10 on the single-season goals state record list.
As a result, Allegany-Limestone often sold out defensively to keep him off the ball, always keeping three and sometimes four defenders back to prevent any outlet to Neumann.
One of the few times he did get on the ball led to Wilson’s best chance of the game from open play, as he swung in a cross from the right wing that Cole Herrmann volleyed just over the bar early in the second half.
“That’s our bread and butter, it’s going to Aidan Neumann up top all game,” Paul Herrmann said. “I tried to put another kid up top so we were playing a 3-4-3 there towards the end, and all it took was just a corner kick.”
Despite Allegany-Limestone going down to 10 men after midfielder Collin Coleman was shown a second yellow card in the 37th minute, the Gators created their most dangerous opportunities of the game in the second half.
Their best chance came off a recycled corner kick that was sent back into the box, and midfielder Noah Hatch flicked a header toward goal that required a reaction save from Wilson goalkeeper Eli Moore to keep the clean sheet intact.
“Defensively, we just needed to keep going and be stronger,” Gallie said. “We wanted it more, we won most of the ball.”
The Lakemen advance to the Class C Far West Regionals, where they await the winner of the Section V crossover game between Naples and Williamson. Naples currently sits at No. 1 in the New York State boys soccer rankings just ahead of Wilson at No. 2.
“We’ll figure out what we’re up against, but right now, I haven’t even looked that far yet,” Herrmann said with a smile.
The Class C regional matchup is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at West Seneca West High School.