Fordham Prep coach Pete McNamara was beginning to write out his list of penalty kick takers and Greg Davis admits he was at his breaking point after Archbishop Molloy had squandered so many scoring opportunities.
That’s when Glenn Whelan stepped up, capitalized on a Rams defensive miscue and sent a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box toward the far post.
Suddenly, the scoreless and physical CHSAA Class A intersectional semifinal at Belson Stadium came to a screeching halt for Whelan.
“I hit it and it felt like an eternity for it to go in,” Whelan said.
But the senior midfielder’s powerful shot eluded Fordham Prep goalkeeper Christian Quinttus and landed in the side netting with 6:44 left in the second overtime to lift Archbishop Molloy to a 1-0 win against Fordham Prep Wednesday night at St. John’s University.
“It was beautiful,” Davis said. “That’s the type of ball I know he can strike. If there was a rebound we were all following up, but we had a feeling it was going in just by the way he hit it.”
Whelan celebrated the goal by sprinting along the touchline and doing a somersault by the midfield stripe as he was mobbed by his teammates.
“To score in the game is amazing,” Whelan said. “But to score in overtime with [six] minutes left is just too many emotions to explain.”
Undefeated Molloy (9-0-4) advances to Sunday afternoon’s championship game to face rival St. Francis Prep. The undefeated Terriers routed Regis, 3-0, in the other semifinal Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s a great thing, two undefeated teams who are rivals,” Whelan said. “Playing in the city championship is a great thing.”
While Davis, one of the most highly touted seniors in the city, electrified the crowd and drew the attention of several Fordham Prep players every time he touched the ball, it was the hard-working Whelan, a co-captain, who scored the game’s lone goal.
Whelan started off the season as a forward, but was moved to central midfield midway through the season by longtime Molloy coach Andy Kostel and excelled in his new role.
For a while, though, it appeared the Stanners would have a second straight playoff game decided on penalty kicks after failing to score over the course of 100 minutes. Failing to convert on ample opportunities has been the story of the Molloy season.
“We had a lot of chances all season and we haven’t scored a lot,” Whelan said. “But we’re confident in ourselves and we knew a goal was going to come eventually. We just kept fighting and it came.”
Kostel said the reason why his team wasn’t frustrated by a bevy of missed chances was because the senior-laden Stanners have played in their share of big games before.
“They do know what it is to win a championship,” he said. “They kind of know that this has been more difficult than last year and I think they’re building a crust that somebody is going to really have to play well to beat us, in my view.”
Only a few players returned from the Fordham Prep (5-4-6) squad that lost to Molloy in the championship game a year ago. The nucleus of this team, though, is talented sophomores who were playing in their first semifinal at Belson Stadium.
“This is a first experience for them, to see this field, to see this environment, how nutty and crazy it can be at times,” Fordham Prep coach Pete McNamara said. “It’s an eye-opener for them. They’ll get older and stronger and better and hopefully, next year, improve.”
