SOUTH DAYTON – The Pine Valley Panthers celebrated Senior Night with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over Silver Creek on Thursday in CCAA Central boys high school soccer.

The win gave the Panthers a 15-1 record. To show how far the seniors and the Panthers program has come in four years, the team was 1-15 when they were freshmen.

The 10 seniors include Tyler West, Dylan Chase, Jacob Blair, Matt Carpenter, Colton Colburn, Sam Linenfelser, Zach Williams, Michael Martin, John Lombardo and Adam Zybert.

“They have worked so hard and gotten better and better,” Pine Valley coach David Pihlblad said. “They are leaders out there. It has been a pleasure to coach them the last four years.”

Thursday’s victory was hardly a walk in the park.

After taking a 1-0 lead on a Dylan Chase goal, the Black Knights scored 12 seconds later thanks to a goal from Bryce Shomper.

At the 23rd-minute mark, Silver Creek’s Brandon Biener, who also had an assist on the first goal, scored to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

It was the first time Pine Valley has trailed since Sept. 20 against Chautauqua Lake, when it trailed, 1-0.

Chase scored his team’s second goal of the game for the 2-2 tie before halftime.

After a scoreless second half, Pine Valley’s Matt Carpenter scored with three minutes left in the sudden death overtime. Jacob Blair took the ball down the left wing. And after drawing the goaltender out of the net, he crossed it to Carpenter, who one-timed it home to set off a raucous celebration and dog pile.

“Silver Creek is a good team,” Pihlblad said. “Their record doesn’t show it. Their goalie, Matt Newman is the best goalie in the area. He stopped a penalty kick right at the end of regulation. Their defense is strong and they win a lot of 50-50 balls. I wouldn’t want to play them in the playoffs.

“We played North Collins and Silver Creek this week,” Pihlblad added. “Both games were one-goal games. This was perfect for us going into playoffs. This is really good for us going forward.”

Newman made 13 saves for the Black Knights while Makiah Snyder made six stops for the Panthers.

“It was a great way to end the regular season,” Pihlblad said. “It’s always good to get an OT win. The kids really enjoyed it. I didn’t want to go to overtime, but it made it fun to win it that way.”