For the first time since 1992 the top-seed Redskins will play in a Section Three Class C final after a dramatic, 3-2, overtime victory over Frankfort-Schuyler Tuesday night. The semifinal game was played on the turf at Sauquoit in front of a large and boisterous crowd. Cooperstown has lost six semfinal contests since 1992, after winning a section title in 1991 with a 1-0 victory over IHC.

``I didn’t expect it to happen with this group,’’ said CCS head coach Frank Miosek. ``Not because they aren’t talented, but we’re pretty young and I wasn’t sure what to expect this season. But we’re very unselfish and team-oriented and that can carry you a long way.’’

The Redskins, 17-2-1, will play the winner of last night’s other semfinal between second seed Faith Heritage and third seed Fabius-Pompey at 8 p.m. Saturday at Cortland State.

``From everything I hear Faith Heritage is very strong and the team to beat,’’ Miosek said.

Tuesday night’s game was the third meeting of the season between F-S and Cooperstown, with the teams splitting the first two meetings. This one was close throughout, with the Redskins grabbing a 1-0 lead when freshman Jake Chase scored on a perfect cross from Chris Gulotta in front of Frankfort’s goal just over 10 minutes into the game.

Frankfort’s Leo Nizzi responded less than three minutes later with the first of his two goals, scoring on a scramble in front of the net after a restart.

Cooperstown dodged a couple of bullets in the final 10 minutes of the first half, first when a shot got past goalie Nick Summers and bounced off the far post back into play, and another when a diving Summers batted away a shot at the last second, again after a restart.

Frankfort did finally break through early in the second half, when Nizzi got free behind the Cooperstown defense and beat Summers with a low shot just 1 minute and five seconds into the half.

``Nizzi is one of the best forwards we’ve seen all year,’’ Miosek said. ``The first two games we had people mark him, but in this game we just played straight-up defense.’’

Ten minutes after Nizzi’s goal, Chase scored again. Frankfort goalkeeper Francisco Gaetani-Liseo and Gulotta slid into the ball at the same time in front of Frankfort’s goal, and the ball bounced back to Chase, who belted a shot into the vacated goal. Neither team could break into the scoring column for the remainder of regulation, and just over a minute into the 15 minute sudden death overtime, Ryan Huggins’ goal put the Redskins into the final and set off a wild celebration.

The Redskins advanced to the semifinals with a hard-earned 2-1 home win over Tully on Friday.

Cooperstown fell behind 1-0 less than four minutes in, but Gulotta scored the first of his two goals with about 17 and a half minutes remaining to tie the score. CCS narrowly avoided going down 2-0 when a Tully player’s shot bounded off the crossbar and back into the field of play with 26 minutes left.

Gulotta’s first goal came after a defensive miscue, when a Tully player failed to clear the ball, and Gulotta stole the ball and fired in a point-blank shot.

Tully missed on another golden scoring opportunity with eight and half minutes left in the first half when Cooperstown goalie Nick Summers saved a breakaway opportunity. Less than a minute later Gulotta scored again for what proved to be the winning goal.

``I think Summers’ save was the turning point in the game,’’ Miosek said.

Summers replaced starting goalkeeper Mac Curran late in the season after Curran suffered a broken jaw. Miosek credited assistant coach Lucas Spencer, a former standout goalkeeper at CCS, with helping Summers acclimate more quickly to the starting assignment.

``He has worked with Nick on cutting down angles and other tactics, and I think it has made a huge difference,’’ Miosek said.

The second half was scoreless but not without drama, as Tully threatened to score on numerous occasions.

Their best chance occurred about eight minutes into the second half, when a shot got past Summers and was rolling toward the goal, but defender Quinn Snyder cleared the ball at the last second. Summers saved another point blank shot and two other shots sailed just wide during the second half.

``I thought we had a really good team effort on defense,’’ Miosek said. ``They had some good opportunities, but we always made the big play when we needed it most.’’

Midway through the half, Gulotta just missed the hat trick when his shot from the side just missed the far post.