Sydney Wiedeman embraces Brenna Burht while Delaney Taylor, Abby Stefensmeier (11) and Anna Sullivan (8) race in to celebrate Buhrt’s game-winning goal in Saturday’s Fort Wayne South Side Sectional championship. (Photos by James Costello)

FORT WAYNE — Even after her exceptional performance in Saturday’s Sectional 7 finale, Warsaw’s Brenna Buhrt still reckoned there were a few things she could’ve done a little better. But if there were any faults in her game, the soft-spoken sophomore mid was likely the only one who noticed.

Buhrt scored all three of her team’s goals, and the Lady Tigers battled back from deficits twice on the way to a thrilling, 3-2 overtime victory over Huntington North in the championship game at the Class 3-A Fort Wayne South Side Sectional.

“I felt like I performed pretty well. I thought I worked really hard,” said Buhrt when pressed about her performance after the game. “There were some things obviously I could’ve improved on — shots I needed to finish, balls I could’ve gotten to feet and things like that — but overall I think it was pretty awesome.”

Awesome indeed. On the way to a hat trick, two of Burht’s three goals looked like magic tricks.

Her first score knotted the game up at 1-all when a hard-driven corner kick at the narrow field outside of Fort Wayne Elmhurst caromed off sophomore Vikings keeper Kodi Douglas, then off the nearside post and into the net. There was a delay between that strike in the 53rd minute and the ensuing Tigers celebration as players looked on trying to figure out what had just happened.

Buhrt turns while Huntington North’s Sydney Kyle defends Saturday.

“Brenna Buhrt is what happened,” said Warsaw coach Jon Hoover. “She hits the ball as hard as anybody does, and we talked about how we want to start driving those corners in.

“She hit it straight in the goal. I think it deflected off the keeper. She hit it really, really hard, and on a field this narrow, anything can happen once you hit it with pace in there.”

Huntington North striker Hannah Tillett tallied her second goal of the night less than two minutes later, though — a long free kick past the outstretched fingertips of diving Tiger goalie Chloe Snow in the 55th minute — to leave Warsaw trailing for the second time Saturday. But Burht delivered again, volleying in a bouncing Anna Grill service to equalize the game once more in the 64th minute, ultimately forcing overtime at the championship contest.

Buhrt saved her best trick for last, however.

With exactly four minutes on the clock in the first of two extra periods, Burht’s free kick from the wing bent just past Douglas and somehow squeezed into the nearside post to cue another onfield celebration by the Tigers. That would be the team’s last before the final horn as the Tigers (13-4-3) held off the Vikings (16-2) over the final 11 minutes for their second straight sectional title.

“She’s the hardest worker on the team, offensively, defensively. Her teammates love her because they’re better players by the way she plays,” said Hoover of Buhrt. “I can’t speak enough about how she played, how she lifted other people up, how she moved the ball around the field. She’s just a joy to coach.”

“Sometimes it’s kind of difficult because just the placement and just thinking about the wind,” explained Buhrt of the game-winner. “I tried to get it in the wind the right way so that it would kind of curve in the near post.”

Warsaw’s Anna Grill battles Hannah Tillett.

Wind was certainly a factor at Saturday’s Sectional 7 championship. With steady drafts and intermittent gales blowing as fast as 42 miles per hour pretty much straight north, the Tigers had the advantage playing with the wind over the first half. But despite five shots on target, Warsaw was still knotted in a scoreless stalemate with Huntington North at the half.

That all changed when the Vikings began using the blustery conditions to their advantage serving long balls over the top in the second half. A long chip by Tillett sailed just under the cross bar in the 41st minute, and the Tigers trailed until Buhrt’s first goal 12 minutes later. When Tillett struck again in the 55th, Warsaw found itself trailing for the second time after outscoring its Sectional 7 opponents by a combined 18-0 margin going into Saturday’s championship tilt.

“For them to get the two goals they did going into the wind was a huge deal. Being 0-0 at half with them getting the wind the second half, we knew we were kind of up against it, but this group didn’t give up,” said Hoover.

“For us to score after they did twice, it just shows how hard the team worked tonight.”

Warsaw’s seniors hold up the trophy following the championship win.

With the win, the Tigers clinched their second straight sectional title and seventh in the past eight years after winning just three total over the previous 17 years of the IHSAA state tournament. It also marked the programs first in the IHSAA’s new 3A class.

“For us to be able to do that with this group, I’m really proud of that. I’m proud of our seniors. They won their last sectional final tonight, and they earned every bit of it,” Hoover said.

“It’s exciting for me to see beyond tonight, the first two games we got to play everybody. We had 25 on the roster and a lot of JV players that came up, and they got to play a lot of minutes. I think that’s what makes Warsaw successful — getting them involved and allowing them to get a taste of postseason soccer is just a big deal.”

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” Buhrt said. “I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. I love everyone on the team, and we did this together.”

Warsaw advances to the Logansport Regional next Saturday to face West Lafayette Sectional-winner McCutcheon (11-7-2) at 10 a.m.

Chloe Snow dives to try and save Huntington North’s second goal Saturday.

Delaney Taylor (17) fights for posession with Daphne Landrum.