Blue Mountain's Drew Waschko connects on a goal during the Schuylkill League boys' soccer championship game (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers).

WHITEHALL — It took roughly 25 minutes for Blue Mountain to find its groove in Wednesday’s District 11 Class 3A boys’ soccer semifinal against Jim Thorpe.

Let’s rephrase that … roughly 25 minutes until the Eagles’ Drew Waschko started burying soccer balls in the back of the Olympians’ net.

The Blue Mountain senior scored a natural hat trick in a span of two and a half minutes midway through the first half, then added a fourth goal later in the first half as the Eagles cruised past the Olympians 8-1 at Whitehall High School’s Zephyr Complex.

The victory advances Blue Mountain (18-3) to the Class 3A championship game against Southern Lehigh, a 3-0 winner over Wilson Area, next Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

“The boys were really fired up and came out strong with great ball movement and powerful runs,” Blue Mountain coach Chris Brauer said. “We were able to attack frequently but had nothing to show for it until Keenan Hall slotted one past the keeper on a feed from Evan Burcik.”

Hall’s goal at 13:52 put the Schuylkill League champions up 1-0, but Jim Thorpe (10-10) answered 12 seconds later, scoring on the kickoff on a goal by Matteo Cacco at 14:04.

“After that, we took control of the game again and had an explosion of goals in short order by Drew Waschko to put it out of reach,” Brauer said.

Waschko broke the tie with a goal at 26:46 off an assist by Sean Gaddy. The two hooked up again at 28:37 to make it 3-1 before Waschko completed the hat trick 37 seconds later off a feed by Blake Batory.

Aidan Varney made it 5-1 at 32:58 before Waschko’s fourth goal 18 seconds later at 33:16 gave Blue Mountain a 6-1 cushion at intermission.

Dylan Knittle accounted for the final margin with a pair of second-half goals. Gaddy finished with three assists while Batory had two.

Blue Mountain outshot Jim Thorpe 23-3, with keeper Caden Wargo making two saves.

“Drew Waschko, our All-Stater, was amazing,” Brauer said, “as was Sean Gaddy, Aidan Varney, Evan Burcik, Dylan Knittle, Robert Bowitz, Troy Mady and Hayden Freed. Caden Wargo made a couple of fine saves.”

Blue Mountain will be looking to win its first-ever District 11 boys’ soccer championship after finishing as the district runner-up six times (2000, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’20, ’23).

Southern Lehigh (15-7), the Colonial League runner-up, advanced to the District 11 title game for the fifth straight year, having lost to Whitehall and Jim Thorpe in their past two appearances. The Spartans have won 14 District 11 titles overall since 1991 and reached the finals five other times.

District 11 Boys’ Soccer

Class 3A Semifinal

At Whitehall

Jim Thorpe (10-10)          1               0               — 1

Blue Mtn. (18-3)                 6               2               — 8

BM — Hall (Burcik), 13:52

JT — Cacco (Meckes), 14:04

BM — Waschko (Gaddy), 26:46

BM — Waschko (Gaddy), 28:37

BM — Waschko (Batory), 29:14

BM — Varney (Gaddy), 32:58

BM — Waschko (Batory), 33:16

BM — Knittle (Varney), 47:53

BM — Knittle, 50:20

Shots on goal: Jim Thorpe 3, Blue Mountain 23. Corner kicks: Jim Thorpe 0, Blue Mountain 7. Saves: Jim Thorpe (Off) 15, Blue Mountain (Wargo) 2.

Central Catholic 3, Pine Grove 0

PINE GROVE — The Schuylkill League runner-up Cardinals saw their season come to an end with a District 11 Class AA quarterfinal loss to Allentown Central Catholic at Cardinal Stadium.

DaSilva scored twice for the Vikings, who outshot Pine Grove 7-5.

Allentown Central Catholic (11-8-1) advances to Tuesday’s semifinals to play Palisades, an 8-0 winner over Shenandoah Valley. Pine Grove ends its season 16-6.

District 11 Boys’ Soccer

Class AA Quarterfinal

ACC (11-8-1)        2               1               —            3

PG (16-6)                0               0               —            0

ACC — M. Bowser (Harris), 1st half

ACC — DaSilva, 1st half

ACC — DaSilva, 2nd half

Shots on goal: ACC 7, Pine Grove 5. Saves: Allentown Central Catholic (Baker) 5, Pine Grove (Renninger) 4.

District 4 Boys’ Soccer

Class AA First Round

Montoursville 3, Lourdes 1

MONTOURSVILLE — The Red Raiders took an early lead on a first-half goal by Majed Kanafari but the Warriors used a pair of second-half goals to advance to the District 4 Class AA quarterfinals.

Lourdes was the 13th seed in the Class AA bracket and finishes its season at 10-11.

Montoursville (15-1-3), the fourth seed, outshot Lourdes 14-9. Brody Brinkash assisted on Kanafari’s goal while keeper Nathan Yablonski had 11 saves.

Blue Devil boys, Pine Grove girls fall in quarters

The Shenandoah Valley boys’ soccer team and the Pine Grove girls’ soccer squad saw their seasons end with quarterfinal losses Wednesday.

The Blue Devils (10-10) were shutout by Palisades 8-0 in a Class AA boys’ contest, while the Cardinals (9-9-3) fell to third-seeded Palisades 1-0 in a girls’ Class AA quarterfinal.