Southwestern’s Seth Vaughn tumbles over the East Aurora goaltender during Tuesday’s Section VI Class B boys crossover soccer game at West Seneca West High School. P-J photo by Tim Frank

WEST SENECA — In the Section VI Class B2 final, the Southwestern boys fell behind Lafayette 2-0, but it managed to battle back and eventually claim the title 3-2 in overtime.

Southwestern once again found itself down by a pair of goals to Class B1 champion East Aurora in Tuesday’s crossover game with a trip to the Far West Regional on the line. Connor Young scored a big goal for the Trojans to pull within one in the first half, but that’s as close as they would get as Amar Culov scored his second goal of the game in the 64th minute to put the contest out of reach for a 3-1 final at West Seneca West High School.

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“I know they’re going to want it more again,” Southwestern head coach Jason Deering said about his team after the loss. “This team is not done. We’re still a pretty young team even though we’re graduating seven or eight seniors this year. They’re kids we’re going to miss, but we’ve got others in the pipeline — we’re not going away anytime soon. So, hopefully, Lackawanna, Lafayette, Roy-Hart, East Aurora they’re looking out for us, We’re coming back next year.”

The Blue Devils scored both of their goals early in the half as Culov first sent a ball in from a bad angle in the fourth minute and then Culov lofted a perfect free kick into the box that Chuck Meyer finished for the 2-0 lead in the 25th minute.

However, unlike Friday, Southwestern did not have to wait until the second half for an answer to the East Aurora goals, as just two minutes later Bergen Nelson sprung Connor Young for a breakaway. Young dribbled around the keeper and from a wide angle punched home what would be the Trojans only goal.

Southwestern battled hard with East Aurora and both teams were evenly matched at each phase of the game, leading to a close physical contest. Both teams sported quick and talented forwards, and after the early offensive flurry the defenses managed to make goals difficult to come by.

“If we weren’t physical I would be disappointed,” Deering stated. “I love that kind of game, I love the battles, I want kids to work hard for each other. I thought the refs were fantastic tonight, they let us play. We welcome it and we enjoy it. If we weren’t aggressive, fighting and battling then I would almost be embarrassed.”

Up front for Southwestern Seth Vaughn continued to be a pest to opposing defenses and goalkeepers. Then, on the other side, Culov had to be in the mind of everyone on defense. For a bulk of the game the defenses won the battle, but the two dynamic forwards earned their chances.

With the talent earning chances, it came down to if the bounces would go your team’s way and they did not bounce for the Trojans. In the second half, after being denied by Gesing several times, Culov scored the Blue Devils’ third goal.

On the other end of the pitch it looked like Vaughn was going to cook up a response after receiving a perfect pass from Joaquin Caparroz. Vaughn got past the defense and had the goalkeeper beat, but as he chipped his shot through it made its way to the post and, unlike Young’s shot earlier, this one bounced out to keep the Trojans trailing by two goals.

“I really thought it was even and at times I even thought we were outplaying them,” Deering said. “I was really happy with the way we showed up today after kind of not showing up that last game in the first half. It was super close, East Aurora is a great program, coach (Kevin) Beale is a fantastic coach, one of the best ever to do it in Western New York. We came in with lots of confidence. We knew despite what everyone was ranking us that we were just as good as East Aurora and Lafayette.”

While East Aurora was aided by the post, all the help Southwestern senior goalkeeper Jonas Gesing needed was his two hands, and they kept the Trojans in the game for a long time. Before Culov netted his 29th goal of the season, Gesing turned him aside on not one, but two breakaways to keep the deficit at just one goal.

“Jonas has grown so much over the last few years as keeper,” Deering said . “Just mentally being able to overcome mistakes and that type of thing. Seeing him make that mistake so uncharacteristic of him, and to turn around and not get himself down. (He) just continued to go out and make great saves. He knows who he is and how great of a goalie he is. I firmly believe he’s one of the top three goalies in Western New York and I wish he would get his recognition for it.”

Young’s goal in the first half proved to be Southwestern’s only tally as East Aurora held on for the overall Class B title. East Aurora (19-0-1) moves on to play Section V champion Hornell (13-3-1) this Saturday at West Seneca West High School.

Southwestern’s season comes to an end with the Section VI Class B2 title and an overall record of 17-2-0.

“Start of the season the sectional title is what we want,” Deering said.. “That’s what our goal is and, as the season was progressing, we thought there was a chance we could make a run for it, so it makes it a little harder to get through this one. The team has been terrific, just the progression. I love watching the progress on teams. This team — even though we were here for the sectional finals last year — we weren’t quite ready to win it. As we go through the year, we watch these guys progress and become more of a team, starting to gel. … It was a real nice experience with this team. It’s one of my favorite teams I’ve coached in terms of the personalities and the effort level.”