Seneca Valley's Tyler Prex (22) and Gavin Loya (14) celebrate after Prex gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead late in the first half of Saturday’s WPIAL Class 4A boys soccer playoff game against Upper St. Clair. SV earned a 4-0 victory. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

JACKSON TWP — In recent years, Tyler Prex watched his older brother, Nathan, score a plethora of big goals for Seneca Valley’s boys soccer team.

Saturday afternoon, the former netted one of his own.

Tyler, a sophomore, scored following a throw-in from teammate Jeremiah Laslavic in the 31st minute of a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal playoff against Upper St. Clair.

The tally broke a scoreless tie and paved the way to a dominant second half as the Raiders advanced with a 4-0 decision at NexTier Stadium.

The Raiders are two-time defending WPIAL champions and have played in back-to-back state championship games, finishing runner-up a year ago.

“Contributing to the varsity team is something I was looking forward to,” said Tyler, who was strictly a junior varsity player last fall, Nathan’s senior season. “I’ve been putting in as much work as I can.”

The team’s coaching staff has noticed.

“We saw an opportunity for him to move up (in the formation) today and he made us look good,” said SV coach George Williams. “Upper St. Clair opened the game with a 5-3-2 formation, which is very tough to score on, it’s like playing against a brick wall. But we were able to wear them down and get that first goal.

“When Tyler hasn’t played, it’s not because of him, he just has very good players around him.”

The score remained 1-0 until Connor Oros found the net moments after teammate Ben Randall took a free kick in the 59th minute.

Trailing 2-0, the Panthers (9-7-2) were forced to spread themselves out in an attempt to generate more scoring chances and the result was two more goals for the Raiders — from Laslavic in the 63rd minute and Max Marcotte in the 74th minute.

The final goal was scored on Upper St. Clair backup goalie Greg Boughner. Prior to that, the Raiders pestered Josh Ioli, who stopped six shots.

Raiders’ goalie Ryan Krumenacker had two saves, both in the second half.

SV (17-0-1) will face Fox Chapel, a 4-0 winner over Canon-McMillan, in a semifinal Tuesday. It will be the third meeting this season between the Section 1 foes. The Raiders won the first two games, 3-1 and 2-0, but the Foxes have won eight of their last nine contests.

“It’s so hard to beat a team for the third time and they’ve got a full head of steam,” said Williams.