ALLENTOWN – Before the Mountain View Eagles could celebrate as state champions Friday night in Hershey, they had to climb out of a hole – twice – three nights earlier against the two-time defending champions.
Mountain View’s come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over New Hope-Solebury Nov. 13 at Salisbury Township made it possible to take the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A boys’ soccer title with a 1-0 win over Sewickley Academy at Hersheypark Stadium.
It was a week of firsts for the Eagles.
The soccer victory represented the first appearance by Mountain View in a PIAA team championship final.
Mountain View became the first Susquehanna County school and the first Lackawanna League member to play in a state soccer championship game.
And, team leaders Colby and Dylan Thomas got to see their father and coach, Roger Thomas, without a beard for the first time in their lives.
Roger Thomas shaved the left half of his mustache and beard when unbeaten Mountain View made it to the state semifinals for the second time in school history. The rest came off when the Eagles rallied twice in the second half to defeat New Hope-Solebury.
Colby Thomas, who scored two goals including the game-winner in the semifinal, slipped a pass to Austin Mack for the state-championship winning goal after the teams had played a scoreless first half.
The Eagles still needed a big save from goalkeeper Bobby Pfahl to lock up the title.
With less than 11 minutes remaining, Pfahl got one hand on a shot from Bobby Mulholland that appeared headed to the upper, right corner of the net from 25 yards out.
“I saw the shot start to lift and I got there a little late,” Pfahl told freelance reporter Rod Frisco. “I just did what I had to do to get that ball.”
Pfahl got to every shot the Panthers managed to put on goal in the final after getting beat twice in the semifinal.
New Hope-Solebury took a 1-0 halftime lead when Pat Brennan slipped a shot past Pfahl on the short side from a tough angle on the left with 16:30 remaining.
The Lions had a clear edge in possession, a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks and had equaled Mountain View’s seven shots in the first half, giving the impression they were well-positioned to protect a lead.
The Eagles, however, took control of play in the second half.
Although New Hope-Solebury finished with a 7-1 lead in corner kicks, Colby Thomas’ combination of blazing speed and spectacular ball-handling up front made sure that Mountain View not only led 9-3 in second-half shots, but also consistently created the most dangerous opportunities.
“Props to our defenders and midfielders,” Colby Thomas said. “They kept pushing even though we never got ahead until that final goal.”
Mountain View used one of its many long passes deep into the New Hope-Solebury end to draw a key foul.
Dylan Thomas converted a direct kick from just outside the box to tie the game less than five minutes into the second half.
“They had four in the wall, but they gave me a little bit of an angle,” Dylan Thomas said. “I hit it on the inside of my foot and sort of bent it around the wall.”
New Hope-Solebury went back in front, 2-1, on a corner kick with 28:23 left.
“They were a very technically competent team, but the problem was we had two major mistakes,” Roger Thomas said. “I’m not going to say we spotted them two goals, but we certainly gave them two goals we would have liked to have back.”
The Eagles did better than that. They again answered, this time with two goals of their own to pull out the win and the trip to Hershey.
Colby Thomas, who averaged more than two goals per game on the season, tied the game with 26:36 left and scored the game-winner with 7:13 remaining.
Defender Colin Davis sent a diagonal pass almost 50 yards ahead to Colby Thomas running up the left-center of the field to set up the tying goal.
“I saw him running and I played the ball to the flag like we’re supposed to do,” Davis said. “He took it from there.”
Colby Thomas won the race with New Hope-Solebury defenders and got off a shot to the short side while on the run.
“I took him at an angle and saw the keeper was off the near post,” Colby Thomas said.
Before scoring the game-winning goal in the state final, Mack assisted the winner in the semifinal.
Mack slipped a short pass to Colby Thomas in traffic from the right side of the penalty area.
With defenders on him, Colby Thomas spun. He came out of the spin with a left-footed shot that found home.
“I’m not a lefty,” Colby Thomas said. “I got a nice bounce off the post.”
Colby Thomas celebrating with fans
Before they could lock up the win and book their trip to Hershey, the Eagles still had to stop two more corner kicks in the final 2:09. With the game still scoreless in the first 14 minutes, defender Nick Jarrow had knocked away a potential goal on a corner kick while standing at the far post behind Pfahl.
“The second half, we started hustling around and broke the ball free,” Roger Thomas said. “We got them a little frustrated and were able to get a few goals.”
The state final, though lower scoring, took on a similar look with Sewickley Academy getting more early chances but Mountain View remaining a serious threat on its fewer opportunities.
Once ahead, the Eagles then protected the lead, making most of Sewickley Academy’s shots come from a distance while pressured.
Pfahl was there to handle the biggest exception, preventing the Panthers from forcing overtime.
The final five games of the six-game championship weekend were decided by 1-0 scores. Sewickley Academy was the only one of five Pittsburgh-area representatives that was not able to return home with a title.
Mountain View’s only previous state title came in 1960 when Duane Ely won the Class B high jump at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.
WEEK IN REVIEW
High school sports winter practices began Friday.
Teams can begin scrimmaging against other schools Friday and are working toward the official opening day of basketball, wrestling and swimming seasons Dec. 7.
In high school football playoffs, Dunmore and Delaware Valley avenged their only losses by winning rematches with unbeaten teams.
Daiqwon Buckley ran 56 yards for a second-quarter touchdown and Austin Seamon broke through to block an extra point in the third quarter Friday night as Dunmore edged Old Forge, 7-6, in the District 2 Class A football championship game.
Buckley and Seamon both were sidelined by injuries when Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 champion Old Forge won the regular-season meeting, 21-0, to hand LFC Division 2 champion Dunmore its only loss.
The Bucks ruined the Blue Devils' unbeaten season in the rematch between two of the state's top four Class A teams, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News poll.
Dunmore, which failed to produce a first down in the first half seven weeks ago, took a 7-0 halftime lead.
Joey Bruno's fumble recovery set up a 3-yard Brian Tomasetti touchdown with 9:34 left in the third quarter.
Seamon and Mike Kolcharno broke in from each side to keep the extra-point attempt from even reaching the line of scrimmage.
Mike Boland stopped a fourth-and-two Old Forge run with 1:17 left to clinch the win.
"We knew we had to come out and play Dunmore football and be physical," said Boland, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound tackle, who also converted the deciding extra point.
Delaware Valley downed LFC Division 1 champion Scranton, 27-16, Friday night in the District 2-4-11 Class AAAA Regional semifinal. Delaware Valley becomes the District 2 champion with the
Abington Heights gave the LFC three of the four District 2 titles, while Lakeland fell in the other championship game.
Dante Pasqualichio threw for three touchdowns as Abington Heights defeated host Berwick, 44-35, in the District 2 Class AAA final.
J.C. Show caught six passes, including one for a touchdown, and intercepted a pass. The Comets had not produced an offensive touchdown in their previous two games before getting five against the Bulldogs. Nate Hollander caught a touchdown pass and returned a kickoff for another score.
Wyoming Area used three touchdowns by quarterback Nick O’Brien to defeat Lakeland, 20-7, in the District 2 Class AA final.
Scranton Prep won and Carbondale lost in Eastern Conference championship games. Scranton Prep topped Muhlenberg, 35-14, in Class AAA. North Schuylkill defeated Carbondale, 22-14, in Class AA.
In high school soccer, the Northern Tier won the UNICO Cup boys’ all-star game,5-3, over the Southern Tier with the help of four goals by Delaware Valley’s Christian Henry, the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Jacquie Graham of Scranton Prep scored the only goal and teammate Bianca Chairge was named Most Valuable Player as the Southern Tier won the girls’ game, 1-0.
The all-star doubleheader for graduating seniors from the Lackawanna League was played Saturday at the University of Scranton’s Fitzpatrick Field.
In professional baseball, the new name of the top affiliate of the New York Yankees was announced.
The franchise will now be known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. After a season on the road while PNC Field was being reconstructed, the International League team will resume play in Moosic in April.
In professional hockey, Derek Grant scored two goals, including the game-winner, and Robin Lehner made 49 saves Saturday night when the Binghamton Senators defeated the Rochester Red Wings, 3-2, in an American Hockey League game.
The Senators also won at the Broome County Arena Friday night when they downed the Adirondack Red Wings.
Eric Tangradi had all three goals for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Friday night a 3-1 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
The Penguins ended a seven-game unbeaten streak by the league-leading Springfield Falcons with a 2-1 win Wednesday. They fell in Hershey, 4-1, Saturday night.
COLLEGE CORNER
Dan Kempa, a Blue Ridge graduate who played football for Susquehanna, set a school record in the King’s College season finale and received a pair of honors for his effort.
Kempa was selected as the King’s Most Valuable Player of the Mayor’s Cup and Middle Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Week after catching a career-high 10 passes for a school-record 237 yards in a 44-32 loss to Wilkes University.
The sophomore wide receiver also tied a touchdown record for touchdown receptions in a game after scoring on catches of 14, 31 and 51 yards. His other seven catches each kept drives alive by producing first downs.
Kempa also returned five kickoffs for 85 yards and two punts for 17 yards, giving him 337 all-purpose yards.
For the season, Kempa led the team with 31 catches for 648 yards and four touchdowns. He also returned 31 kickoffs for 513 yards and a touchdown and 19 punts for 203 yards. In all, he turned 83 touches into 1,368 all-purpose yards.
A week earlier, Kempa returned a kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown in a 34-19 loss to Lebanon Valley.
King’s finished 2-8.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Delaware Valley will play for the District 2-4-11 Class AAAA Regional title while Abington Heights (Class AAA) and Dunmore (Class A) move into the state football tournament.
Our high school predictions were 4-2 (66.7 percent) last week, bringing our playoff record to 11-3 (78.6) and our season record to 102-31 (76.6 percent).
This week’s predictions: Parkland 37, DELAWARE VALLEY 33; Abington Heights 23, Allentown Central Catholic 14; Southern Columbia 44, Dunmore 43.
In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senatars are home Thanksgiving night at 6:05 against the Toronto Marlies.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
