Girls State Soccer Tournament: Oak Hill slays the giant to win AAAA title

Red Devils secure the AAAA championship in first-ever appearance in the state tournament

Saturday afternoon started with a prayer and ended with a prayer for the Oak Hill girls soccer team.

In between, the Lady Red Devils knocked off perennial power George Washington, 2-1 to win the first-ever AAAA girls state soccer championship title at Paul Cline Stadium.

Qualifying for the girls state soccer tournament for the first time in school history, No. 3-seed Oak Hill moved into the title match with a 4-3 semifinal win over No. 2-seed Wheeling Park Thursday night.

The Patriots entered the championship battle as the top-seed and had earned a 3-0 win over Oak Hill in their regular season clash.

Still, Red Devils head coach Gerald Wilburn believed his girls could slay the giant.

Wilburn was still confident after his team went down 1-0 at half time on a goal from George Washington junior forward Ellie Pray.

Turns out, the veteran coach knew his team better than the rest.

Less than three minutes into the second half senior Jada Wilburn, the coaches' daughter, took a ball from sophomore Bella Holly and scored from distance to tie the match bringing a huge eruption from the Fayette County faithful.

For the next 10 minutes the Red Devils banked on its defense to keep the favored Patriots at bay.

In the 53rd minute, the Oak Hill Nation was treated to another goal, this time from freshman Aubrey Conley who converted on the assist from Wilburn.

The play for the final 27 minutes was frantic from the Patriots, but the Red Devils held their ground to earn the championship title.

Jada Wilburn, Serenity Bourgord, Kearsten Settle and Bella Holly were named to the All-Tournament team. Holly was named the tournament MVP.

Coach Wilburn talked about the win and believing in his team.