AUBURN – It’s hard to miss St. Dom’s striker Matt Barlion. The senior forward always seems to be around the ball, and his stocky, chiseled frame often stands out among other, smaller players.

He makes a pretty good target, too.

Alex Parker booted the ball to the far post on a corner kick from the right corner and found Barlion, who split two defenders. Barlion headed the ball into the cage past Sacopee Valley keeper Joshua Benson with 3:44 to play in the first overtime period to lift the No. 2 Saints to a 3-2 win over the No. 7 Hawks in the teams’ Western Class C quarterfinal on Wednesday.

“I always know Matt’s going far post, and he’s a big target to hit,” Parker said. “I sent it over there and he got the head on it.”

“I had two guys on me, but I took a full sprint right between both of them,” Barlion said. “I got to it, but it was close.”

The set play to the far post was something the on which the Saints (12-3-0) worked all week.

“Of course, (Tuesday), we ran them in the gym,” St. Dom’s coach Matt Erickson said. “That’s the outcome we wanted, but it was a little bit closer than it needed to be. There was a lack of communication at times defensively today.”

It didn’t appear late in the second half that an extra session would even be necessary, after Parker and Barlion hooked up for their team’s second goal of the game with 13:41 to play. On that score, Parker fed the ball to the top of the box to Barlion, who just beat Benson to the ball and slid it into the cage.

“I tipped it with the side of my foot and curled it around inside,” Barlion said.

The Hawks (8-7-1) fired back 1:49 later, though, as Blais Whitney absorbed a hard-struck ball off his chest and booted it past St. Dom’s keeper Nick Brigham to cut the Saints’ lead in half.

“Just when you thought we were out of it, the kids showed their character,” Sacopee coach Mike Lane said. “They scratched and clawed and got the goals.”

A bizarre play and an even more bizarre call led the Hawks’ tying score.

With the clock down to 1:25, Sacopee sent the ball to the middle on a late free kick. The ball squirted through Brigham, but Jon Mulderig cleared the ball off the line, leading to a Sacopee corner kick.

On the ensuing play, Mitchell Watson fired the ball toward the net, and beat Brigham, only to have Shayne Curtis save the ball from going in – with his hand.

Instead of a penalty kick for the Hawks and a red card to Curtis, officials awarded Sacopee the goal, and assessed Curtis a yellow card.

The end result: Overtime.

The Hawks had two solid chances in the overtime period, but Brigham stuffed them both.

“The biggest thing I’m thinking about in overtime is quick distribution,” Brigham said. “I’m not thinking about making a mistake; I’m thinking that nothing’s going in.”

The Saints advance to face Waynflete in the Western Class C semifinal round Saturday in Auburn.