MOUNTULLA— As Michael Wetter’s face rushed toward the goal post, he made a quick adjustment to avoid some serious impromptu dental work, scowled as he waited for a whistle that didn’t come and decided there was only one way to get even.

His hat trick did the trick nicely for West Rowan, which pulled away late for a 4-1 win over Class 3ASouth Piedmont Conference rival East Rowan on Wednesday.

“It’s happened before: Whenever somebody fouls me, I always get fired up,”Wetter said.

East held a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute when Wetter ignited. The Falcons sent a high bouncer into the box that Mustang keeper Bobby Parnell came out for and had hop over his head. The ball skipped toward the left post and just wide, which was why Wetter raced in to redirect.

Instead, a friendly, innocent-looking push from Parnell sent Wetter directly into the post, which he side-stepped but still clanked his arm off of.

The referees didn’t catch it. Wetter glared at Parnell before retreating to midfield.

The next time the two met, Wetter was racing in to take a high serve from Brian Armada. He beat one defender and sent a shot in from less than 10 yards out to tie the match in the 37th minute.

Less than 60 seconds later, Parnell was busier than ever. He dove to punch away one shot, but Jesse Bouk corralled it in the corner. The Mustang defense failed to take note of the wide-open Wetter in the middle, but Bouk had no trouble finding his teammate for a chip shot that made it 2-0.

The Mustangs went from leading after Sam Ketner’s penalty kick to trailing at halftime in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t the goals that bothered East coach Jon Heidrick so much as how they came about.

“That’s not where it hurt their chances. What hurt their chances was making the fundamental mistakes,”Heidrick said. “Turnovers, like on a bad throw-in, not marking up tight enough, not talking. Sometimes they’re their own worst enemy.

“Every day in practice they play like they know what to do,”Heidrick added. “Then we come out here and make fundamental mistakes that shouldn’t be made at this level.”

Thanks to Parnell’s fantastic play in goal all night, the Mustangs remained in the game — sort of. The 2-1 margin didn’t grow until the 71st minute, but East’s offense didn’t even sniff a scoring chance in the second half, so the Mustangs’ hopes for a tie began to fade.

Wetter made sure West stayed on top. Calen Stiller centered a ball that East couldn’t clear, and once again, Wetter was there.

“He’s leading us in scoring,”West head coach Rob Sweet said. “He’s been in a drought, so I’m sure he was hungry.”

Hungry for goals, not the goal post.

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NOTES: Mark Miller tacked on West’s fourth goal on a pass from Stiller with six minutes to play. … East’s PK came in the 37th minute after Falcon keeper Tyler Parker pushed a Mustang in the box. West also trailed Harding 2-0 on Monday before rallying for a 4-1 win. “Even down 1-0, I wasn’t panicky. It took us a little bit to settle down,”Sweet said. “Every time we play East, their kids have played really hard.” … West improved to 6-8 overall and 4-6 in the SPC. East is still searching for its first win.