John Burroughs' Angelo Gentile (left) celebrates his overtime goal that got past St. Pius goaltender Andrew Morlock (right on ground) in a Class 1 state quarterfinal game Tuesday at the Anheuser-Busch Center. (Chris Lee/P-D)

FENTON — Angelo Gentile knew he needed to make a play.

The Burroughs senior midfielder was frustrated by his play and the Bombers' lack of scoring opportunities for much of Tuesday's Class 1 quarterfinal playoff game against St. Pius X at Anheuser-Busch Center.

But Gentile seized the opportunity when it came, taking a pass from Wade Martin and beating a defender and St. Pius goalkeeper Andrew Morlock with 6 minutes 35 seconds left in overtime to lift Burroughs to a 2-1 victory.

"I just knew that was a play where I had to get in and make a play," Gentile said of his fourth goal of the year. "Throughout the game I didn't feel like I was really getting forward and getting the ball enough. I saw Wade and I saw that window right there and I just knew I had to make a run through there."

Burroughs (14-7-3) advances to face Whitfield (13-7-5) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at A-B Center.

St. Pius coach Dan Bokern "had his team very organized," Burroughs coach Scott McDoniel said. "We had a real tough time solving that problem. To be honest, the game could have gone either way. We're fortunate to be playing on Friday night."

St. Pius finished the year at 15-10.

"I thought we played well enough to win," Bokern said. "It's just unfortunate that we didn't. I think it could have gone either way with John Burroughs or us. You get in those overtimes and you never know."

Burroughs opened the scoring with 28:03 left in the first half, when Jordan Stone corralled a loose ball in the box and buried his third goal of the season.

But St. Pius answered a couple minutes later when Charlie Chafin blasted a shot from outside the box into the upper right corner of the net for his 12th goal of the season.

The rest of regulation and the first portion of the overtime period saw neither team get many scoring opportunities until Gentile's game-winner.

WHITFIELD 2, SOUTHERN BOONE 1 — The defending Class 1 champs stretched their string of consecutive final four appearances to six with a quarterfinal victory at Holt High in Wentzville.

Since Missouri went to three classes in 2002, the Warriors have won four state titles, placing second in 2005. Against Southern Boone (22-2), Whitfield received goals from Jim Deatherage and Kory Clawson.

Southern Boone scored off a corner kick with about 15 minutes to play.

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