Peters Township falls short of PIAA final
For the second time in less than two weeks, Peters Township agonized about a soccer loss.
Only this time, as the Indians fell to the turf Nov. 14 at Mansion Park in Altoona, finality sunk in. The season was over. The dream of a state title derailed.
In the PIAA semifinals, Hempfield vanquished the Indians, 3-2. After 80 minutes of action and double overtime, the Black Knights edged Peters Township, 5-4, in a shootout.
The loss not only ended the 2017 campaign, with the team posting a 19-2-1 overall record, the defeat prevented the Indians from challenging for their fifth state crown in program history. They won a PIAA title as recently as 2014. The Indians also own nine WPIAL titles but were denied a 10th when they lost their only other game this fall to North Allegheny, 2-1, in the District 7 final played Nov. 2 at Highmark Stadium.
Of his players, many are products of parents that competed for the Indians and built the school’s soccer tradition, head coach Bobby Dyer said.
“They are playing in a program where expectations are so high. They don’t realize how hard it is to get to this point.”
Indeed it was difficult to reach the Final Four in the state. For starters, the Indians survived section play. They won a division that had produced the state champion or runner-up in four of the past six seasons.
After running the table in Section 2 with a 10-0 record and a 14-0-1 regular season, the Indians embarked on their quest for a WPIAL title. Peters blanked Fox Chapel, 2-0, then scored 4-1 victories against Butler and Pine-Richland to reach the District 7 final against North Allegheny. The Tigers won the WPIAL title but the Indians avenged that loss to set up the showdown with Hempfield, the District 3 champion.
Five minutes into the fray, the Black Knights put the pep in Peters Township’s step when Ryan Hepler rammed the ball into the upper-right corner of the net for a 1-0 advantage.
Logan Brinsky responded with the equalizer five minutes later but failure to clear the ball in the back resulted in a go-ahead goal for Lancaster County-based Hempfield. Jake Suchar was credited with the tally.
“You have to be able to get the ball out,” Dyer said. “We didn’t do a good job.”
Though Hempfield controlled possession, satisfied with sitting on its one-goal lead by clearing the ball, the Indians, however, did a good job of attacking. With 17:20 remaining in regulation, they came back and tied the contest, 1-1. Bryce Gabelhart registered the equalizer while Brian Bruzdewicz earned an assist.
“Our leadership stepped up and realized that they were in a situation where they didn’t want to turn their uniforms in,” Dyer said. “They weren’t ready to go home.”
The Indians never surrendered, playing well in the overtime frames. Yet, the game was decided on penalty kicks. During the shootout, Brinsky, Matt Stuck, Luke Kelly and Kyle McFarren converted their free kicks. But, after Brady Ross made a diving save, Austen Goodling punched Hempfield’s ticket to Hershey when he deposited a shot into the lower right corner of the net for the gamewinner.
“We tried,” said Dyer. “They’ve worked hard their whole lives to be part of this. When you put that much into it, it hurts. It’s a great lesson for them in life to continue to invest in what they want to do.”
For more than a dozen Indians, college soccer may be what they choose to do. Kelly is already a St. Francis University recruit. Gabelhart and Brinsky are also Division I prospects but not committed to a college as yet.
The other graduating seniors include: goalie Derek Deyarmin, Zachary Sepich, Nathanael Ross, Tyler Kabo, Tyler Opferman, Joseph Richetti, Mitchell Mindach, Moritz Woelk, McFerran and Stuck.
Among the other players contributing to the varsity’s success included: Owen Belfiore, James Argent, Christian Verner, Nathan Lopus, Anthony Melograne, Spencer Peskorski, Anthony Kita, John Pituch and Bruzdewicz.
The future of PT soccer is also bright because the following will return as well: Nathan Donina, Parker Lewis, Jackson Basar, Casey Bulseco, Matthew Daube, Jacob Ference, Conor Lopus, Benjamin Niesen, Alexander Wang, Jack Woodward, Luke Holmes, Derek Liguori, Tyson Antosh, Ryan Salus, Dominic Sambuco and Jonas Woelk.