By Todd Stanford
HUGHESVILLE -- Take advantage of the space you're given. Crash the net. Don't let your foot off the accelerator.
Midd-West did all of the above and much, much more in Tuesday's PIAA Class AA first-round playoff game against Southern Lehigh. Corey Goss, Alex Callender and Jeremy Payne all scored as the Mustangs cruised to a 3-1 victory at Raymond H. Perritt Stadium.
"We started off real well," Midd-West coach Chris Sauer said. "We wanted to put them under pressure. ... And we took it to them."
The Mustangs (17-3-1), champions of District 4, now advance to the state quarterfinals for the second year in a row. They'll face District 3 champion Fleetwood on Saturday at a site and time to be announced.
After losing eight starters from last year's state semifinalist, there were whispers at the start of this season that Midd-West would take a step back. But that kind of talk only fueled the fire of the 2009 Mustangs, who have now won nine in a row.
"That was a lot of momentum, people putting us down," said Payne, one of the three returning starters (along with Callender and Jaycen Goodling). "That's how we like it."
"It's not a surprise to us," added Sauer, who's now 3-3 in state playoff games. "Last year on our ride back from HersheyPark Stadium (after a 3-0 loss to Pottsgrove in the semis), (assistant coaches) Russell Goodling and Mark Ferster and I were talking, and we said, We're going to get back.'"We believe in our kids."
Tuesday's matchup was the third in the last five years between the Mustangs and Spartans (17-6). Southern Lehigh spoiled Midd-West's first visit to states in 2005 with a 3-1 victory. Last year, the Mustangs won 2-0 en route to the semifinals.
That meeting last year may have had some influence on Southern's thinking going into Tuesday's rematch. The Spartans routinely gave away too much space in the midfield -- space that Payne and Jeremey Troutman were only too happy to exploit.
"I think (Southern) may have been relating us to how we played last year," Sauer said. "We held more space (last season) because we had a little more speed up top. ... Now the guys we have in the middle are different players that go at you."
Troutman got the ball rolling in the fifth minute, as he dribbled upfield and to the right side of the box before blasting a shot; keeper Eric Novak stopped it, but then slipped in trying to corral it, and Goss was there for the rebound goal.
It was still 1-0 in the second half when Midd-West struck again. This time it was Payne launching a missile into the box in the 46th minute. Novak deflected it, but Callender was there for his third goal of the playoffs.
"That's something we've struggled with all year long," Sauer said when asked about his team's crashing the net. "Tonight, for whatever reason, the guys were prepared, the were ready to go, and we finished."
Payne got the Mustangs' final tally in the 57th minute. He took the ball at midfield, dribbled in, and nailed a shot from inside the right side of the box that found the back of the net.
"We thought our best chances were in going at them in space," Payne said.
"Instead of just passing it to our forwards, we thought dribbling through the midfield was effective."
Southern, the District 11 champion, got on the board in the 77th minute when Kris Kassel scored.
