Just a few minutes removed from a leg cramp that forced him to the turf at Charles A. Lawson field, the sophomore striker seized that opportunity, turned on the afterburners and fired home a shot in close to lift the top-seeded Trojans to a 2-1 win over the eighth-seeded Bulldogs in Class B2 quarterfinal action.

“It is heart. That kid has a lot of heart,” Southwestern head coach Jason Deering said. “He’s been around this program since he was an eighth-grader. He can be hurt, cramping up, sick, he’s going to give you everything he has on that field. Love that in a player.”

Young, who now leads Southwestern with 14 goals on the year, would get the hosts on the board in the 19th minute of the first half of play as well. Michael Carnes was able to settle a ball in Alden territory and chipped a cross up to Drew Keppel 20 yards out from the Bulldogs net. Keppel picked that pass off with a header to a waiting Young, who volleyed home the finish inside the left post, beating Bennett for his first of the night.

“That effort from all of the guys was absolutely fantastic tonight. It was like they had fire under them,” Deering said. “They were just all over the field and that is what we need for these playoffs. We wanted to go in with a lot of high pressure, fly around the field, and it didn’t happen the way we wanted to start the game. I think we were a little nervous and out of sorts, which was a surprise. But they locked it in and the rest of the game was ours.”

Maple Grove’s Tristan Spillane (13) just misses connecting on a header off a corner kick that eluded Chautauqua Lake goalkeeper Erik Peterson during Thursday’s Section VI Class C quarterfinal at Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Indeed it was Alden that got out to a strong start on offense through the first 10 minutes of the night on its way to a 1-0 lead.

Southwestern defender Miracle Berakah was forced to break up a tricky play right off the bat, which was followed up by a another good attempt by Alden’s Matt Derenda that was cut off by Trojans goalkeeper Declan Brown.

Thomas Strasser would have the benefit of a pair of direct kicks early for Alden, striking the first one wide of the left post in the seventh minute and then hitting another from 25 yards out into the Southwestern defensive wall.

The Bulldogs got on the board in the 11th minute when Derenda grabbed passes from Strasser and Tristan Posluszny for an easy back-door finish on the left side.

After giving up that first goal, Southwestern returned to form for much of the rest of the night. Young got his first chances of the evening shortly after Derenda’s goal, lofting a volley wide of the net and then ripping a shot on goal during a fast break while Keppel had a chance on a free kick that was cleared away.

Southwestern would continue to press the issue on offense for much of the second half, with Michael Carnes, Marcus Kautzman and Simon Pirrello controlling play through the middle of the field.

Despite suffering a loss due to illness, the Trojans defense continued to limit chances down the stretch.

“We lost Tim Galati to some illness tonight and we had some replacements on that left back side that really played well,” Deering said. “Josh Truver really stepped up and helped that defense, Miracle (Berakah) and Addison Pope, they both played extremely well.”

The Trojans will now face No. 4 Eden at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sweet Home after their 1-0 win over No. 5 Fredonia.

At noon, No. 2 Allegany-Limestone will meet No. 6 Newfane in the other semifinal.