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DALLAS TWP. — The warning came with a few seconds left in the first half when Wyoming Valley West’s Ryan Stevens rocketed a direct kick from about 25 yards that Dallas keeper Kyle Greenwood had to dive to prevent from going into the goal.
It was the Spartans’ real first chance at scoring Monday night, but it wouldn’t be the last as they attacked relentlessly to get the equalizer after halftime. It never came.
Instead, Dallas used a goal by Zach Holthaus early in the first half to hold off Valley West 1-0 in a District 2 Class 3A boys soccer semifinal game.
Second-seeded Dallas (16-2-1) will play at top-seeded Crestwood (18-1) on Wednesday for the championship and District 2’s only spot in the PIAA Class 3A state tournament. Crestwood defeated Dallas twice during the Wyoming Valley Conference season — 4-2 on Sept. 6 and 3-0 on Oct. 9. It will be the third consecutive year the two have played for the D2-3A title, with Dallas winning in 2016 and Crestwood in 2017.
Third-seeded Valley West ended its year at 15-4-1. For the third time this season, the Spartans failed to crack Dallas’ defense, a span of 260 minutes without scoring.
Dallas controlled a majority of the first half and got its goal when Holthaus ripped a 20-yard liner into the upper right of the goal 7:03 into the game. Joey Nardone assisted.
“The first half, we had the wind, we dominated,” Dallas coach Chris Scharff said. “We should have had the second one. I wanted the second one because I knew with 2-0 we could park the bus a little bit and withstand the pressure and the wind. But 1-0, I thought we were in trouble.”
Valley West made it look that way for the initial 25 minutes of the 40-minute second half. Nate Naugle, Saquan Portee and Landon Serbin were all part of a Spartan surge that had Dallas defending vigorously to prevent a game-tying goal.
“We bum-rushed them as best we could,” Valley West coach Charlie Whited said. “We put a lot of pressure on them, had some good opportunities, but we just didn’t capitalize. But I can’t say enough about the boys. I love them. They played like a team and finished like a team.”
The Spartans’ best chance in the second half came from afar. Kevin Grodzki launched a 40-yard direct kick that Greenwood had to leap to his left and slap away with 10 minutes expired.
“Coming out into the second half, we knew Valley West is a very fiery team in the second half,” said Dallas defender Ryan Fisher, who also kicks for the football team. “We expected them to come out like that and they did. They pressured us back in our own half and we just dealt with it.”
Fisher, who took a shot off his midsection in the first half, wasn’t the only one. He and Ben Emershaw held down the inside on the fullback line. Nardone and John Betzko and Nardone did what was necessary on the wings to hamper Valley West’s attack.
District 2 3A Semifinal
Dallas 1, Wyoming Valley West 0
Wyomong Valley West`0`0 — 0
Dallas`1`0 — 1
First half —1. Dal, Zach Holthaus (Joey Nardone), 7:03.
Shots — WVW 8, Dal 11. Saves — WVW 4 (Chris Stoodley), Dal 3 (Kyle Greenwood). Corners — WVW 1, Dal 3.