HUGHESVILLE -- Let the word go forth to the rest of the PIAA Class AA boys soccer field: Midd-West's Alex Callender always saves his best for the playoffs.
Callender's header in the 89th minute Thursday night gave the Mustangs their second consecutive District 4 Class AA title, as they held off Selinsgrove 2-1 in overtime at Raymond H. Perritt Stadium.
"I don't think I've ever been prouder of a group of boys," Midd-West coach Chris Sauer said. "They worked and worked and worked, and proved a lot of people wrong."
Callender, a senior forward, also had the game-winner in Midd-West's 1-0 semifinal win over Mifflinburg, and he scored twice in the state quarterfinals last year as the Mustangs upset 2007 state champion Palmyra.
"That's what the big players do," Sauer said. "When it's time to show up, he's going to be there."
The No. 2 seed in districts, Midd-West (16-3-1) will now play District 11 champion Southern Lehigh in the first round of states Tuesday; the game will most likely be played at Hughesville or Millville, but it will be somewhere in District 4.
Since the PIAA expanded boys soccer to include three classifications beginning with the 2000 season, Midd-West has won four D-4 championships -- all in the last five years. Despite the fact that Midd-West didn't exist until the 2004-05 academic year, the Snyder County school now has more D-4 AA titles than anyone since the advent of the three-class system.
"We've got a group of kids that come from a culture of winning," Sauer said. "You take Middleburg and West Snyder and put it together: It's two storied traditions in Central Pennsylvania."
The Mustangs lost nine starters from the 2008 team that advanced all the way to the state semifinals. With only two regular starters returning, there was some talk prior to the season that Midd-West would be down this year.
"That (talk) gave us a spark," said Callender, who, along with midfielder Jeremy Payne, was one of the two starters returning. "We lost a lot of star players. But this isn't just an individual thing that we have here. This is a family."
Fifth-seeded Selinsgrove, which was seeking its third D-4 AA crown this decade, ends its season at 11-9-1.
"We had some spurts there where we were possessing the ball and we were challenging," Seals coach Chris Lupolt said. "We work on (defending) free kicks. ... Those things happen. What can you do?"
Corey Goss put Midd-West up 1-0 in the 35th minute when his high shot from 25 yards found the back of the net. That's the way it stayed until the 78th minute, when the Seals' Griffin Kelly was taken down in the box. Kyle Bennar took the ensuing penalty kick, and he beat keeper Mike Iaderosa to level the match.
The Mustangs ended it on Callender's golden goal in overtime. Levi Shirk took a free kick from 40 yards out, and Callender got underneath it, heading it over keeper Tristan Conrad and into the back of the net.
"It hit my head and then it hit my back," Callender said. "It was a great ball from (Shirk)."
Both teams had their chances in the game. In the 50th minute, the Seals' Jake Newman ripped a shot that Iaderosa stopped for one of his three saves.
Two minutes later, Callender put a nice ball in the box for Goss. Goss knocked it underneath a sliding Conrad, but just before the ball could roll across the line, Selinsgrove defender Spencer Hotaling cleared it.
"We moved him back to sweeper, and I think that's his natural position," Lupolt said of Hotaling. "He had a really good game. Throughout the playoffs he's played well."
Payne and Jeremey Troutman patrolled the midfield for the Mustangs. Throughout the night, that pair routinely disrupted the Seals' chances and kept them from moving forward.
"They're good players," Lupolt said. "They did a good job."
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High school soccer: Callender leads Mustangs to title
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