DALLAS TWP. — When Wyoming Valley West’s Claas Nemitz found the back of the net to tie Dallas with 22:22 left in regulation, Mountaineers head coach Chris Scharff just wanted his team to force penalty kicks.

He knew it would be tough because Valley West had the momentum. But if his team got there, Scharff felt comfortable about the Mountaineers’ chances. The 19th-year head coach knew he had a more-than-capable goalkeeper in sophomore Kyle Greenwood and has an array of potent scorers in his arsenal.

After an intense finish to regulation and a pair of scoreless 15-minute overtime periods, Scharff got his wish.

The game went to penalty kicks and the Mountaineers sealed the deal, winning the District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal against the Spartans. The score was 1-1 with the Mounts advancing 4-2 on penalties.

Dallas will travel to top-seeded Abington Heights at 3:30 p.m. Monday in the semifinals.

“I was very confident with the PKs because our goalkeeper does a good job with them, No. 1,” Scharff said. “And No. 2, we do have a bunch of good kickers when it comes to that penalty-kick situation, that are calm and skilled players. But it’s a coin toss.

“Once we got to sudden death I just wanted to get to PKs. I wanted to take our chances in those because I was confident. And I wasn’t confident in 30 more minutes of overtime.”

Dallas junior Ricky Wooditch struck first, putting the ball in the top right corner. Wooditch also scored the game’s first goal, on a free kick with 26:28 remaining in regulation.

Valley West junior Nick Bazadona responded immediately, putting the ball just out of reach of a diving Kyle Greenwood, who couldn’t make a clean save.

Tied 1-1, Dallas’ David Chopyak continued to apply the pressure, putting the ball out of the reach of a diving Davis Weaver, who, like Greenwood, could only tip the ball. The first crack came when Valley West sent a shot high and over the net.

After Dallas’ Beaudyn Lewis and Valley West’s Jake Gurtis each scored, Mountaineers freshman Zach Holthaus put the pressure on in the fourth round. Holthaus found the bottom right corner of the net to give the Mountaineers a 4-2 lead.

It would prove to be too much as Valley West missed its fourth-round shot as Dallas clinched the victory.

“All I could think is, ‘We finally won,’ ” Greenwood said. “I talked to my dad at the beginning of the game and said, ‘This is going into PKs. I’m so confident. I’m 100 percent confident because our shooters are 100 percent.’ ”

With Dallas winning the first meeting between the two — 1-0 on Sept. 7 — and Valley West taking the second — 2-0 on Sept. 29 — it seemed fitting that with everything on the line, Wednesday’s affair went into penalty kicks.

“It’s just amazing. I don’t know,” Greenwood said of the win. “I would like to thank all my teammates and everything. They just get me through everything.

“The first goal in the game, I put my head down and got all frustrated. And then I just got the confidence from my teammates and they just pushed me through it and they helped me out.”

Crestwood 3, Tunkhannock 1

The seventh-seeded Comets sprung an upset on No. 2 Tunkhannock in the Class 3A quarterfinals, scoring twice in the second half to advance.

Hubert Herrera scored the eventual game-winner in the 64th minute and Kyle Gegaris added an insurance marker shortly after Avery Newhart pulled the Tigers within 2-1 with time winding down.

Dylan Perrone also had a goal for the Comets, who will face No. 3 Wallenpaupack in Monday’s semifinals.

Abington Heights 2,

Coughlin 1

George Oko scored midway through the second half, but the No. 8 Crusaders couldn’t find the equalizer against the top-seeded Comets in the Class 3A quarterfinals.

David Kosik made six saves for Coughlin.

DISTRICT 2 TOURNAMENT

Class 3A quarterfinals

Dallas 1, Wyoming Valley West 1

(Dallas wins 4-2 on penalties)

Valley West`0`1`0`0 — 1

Dallas`0`1`0`0 — 1

Second half — 1. DAL, Ricky Wooditch, 53:32; 2. WVW, Claas Nemitz, 59:38. Penalty kicks — 1. DAL, Wooditch good; 2. WVW, Nick Bazadona good; 3. DAL David Chopyak good; 4. WVW, Pau Caballeno miss; 5. DAL, Beaudyn Lewis good; 6. WVW, Jake Gurtis good; 7. DAL, Zach Holthaus good; 8. WVW, Charlie Keefer no good.

Shots — WVW 15; DAL 21. Saves — WVW 6 (Davis Weaver); DAL 6 (Ryan Greenwood). Corner kicks — WVW 5; DAL 4.

Crestwood 3, Tunkhannock 1

Crestwood`1`2`—`3

Tunkhannock`0`1`—`1

First half — 1. CRE, Dylan Perrone (Hubert Herrera), 20th minute. Second half — 2. CRE, Herrera, 64th; 3. TUN, Avery Newhart (Stefan Sica), 73rd; 4. CRE, Kyle Gegaris (Josh Rusinko), 76th.

Shots — CRE 15; TUN 5. Saves — CRE 3 (Aidan Zabiegalski); TUN 10 (Matt Goodwin). Corner kicks — CRE 5; TUN 1.

Abington Heights 2, Coughlin 1

Coughlin`0`1`—`1

Abington Hts`2`0`—`2

First half — 1. AH, Luke Abdalla (Patrick Beatty), 23:36; 2. AH, Anthony Freda (Beatty), 16:10. Second half — 3. COU, George Oko (David Cortez), 14:05.

Shots — AH 10, COU 8. Saves — AH 6 (Jackson Danzig); COU 6 (David Kosik). Corner kicks — AH 2; COU 3.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_web1_SoccerBall-6.jpg.optimal.jpg

By DJ Eberle

djeberle@timesleader.com

Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle