North Penn & CB West were winners in Saturday’s PIAA 4A quarterfinals. North Penn/Conestoga photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-1 NORTH PENN 2, #1-4 CONESTOGA 1 (OT)
Ryan Stewart insists he’s not a typical striker.
“I’m not the fastest person on the field, but I get into the right position to score goals,” the senior captain said. “If I see the goal, I just want to get it on target because I know if I get it on target – I’m scoring it.”
Conestoga certainly wouldn’t argue that point.
For the second time in as many meetings with the Pioneers in the postseason, it was Stewart scoring the game-winner. Saturday’s goal – set up by a Josh Jones flick after a Carter Houlihan throw in – came with 9:56 remaining in the first overtime.
The dramatic game-winner set off a jubilant celebration, and Stewart – who along with his teammates immediately dashed to the North Penn faithful – had a singular thought when his shot found the back of the net.
“Get to my teammates, get to everyone who was out here to support us because it wasn’t just me tonight – it was everybody,” he said. “We gave it our all. We fell off, but we came back and we just kept fighting until the end.”
Anything less would not have been enough against the defending state runner-up Pioneers, and there was no mistaking the intensity in this one.
“Both teams fighting for their lives – it’s the most tense game, the most tense feeling you’ll ever get,” Stewart said. “There’s no words to describe it out there.”
“It was so intense,” junior Sawyer Meade said. “The pressure was on us. Especially being the number one seed – there’s always pressure.
“Everyone is going after you. I know everyone was against us this game, saying we were going to lose. You just show it on the field. Thankfully we came up with it and didn’t go home this year with the tears. It was an amazing game.”
Meade played a key role in Saturday’s win, delivering saves that may have been lost in the shuffle in the giddy postgame celebration. At almost identical times ending the first and second half – with 1:22 remaining the first half and 1:25 in the second, Meade delivered diving saves to preserve the tie.
“The adrenaline rushing through my body when the ball was down there was insane,” Meade said. “Pretty much it’s just staying cool, keeping the nerves down. It’s hard sometimes when all the pressure’s on you.
“After playing them one time, we knew their good players. They play a player up top (Elijah Brown). We had to lock him down because he’s insanely fast. It’s always hard to play a team the second time. After having a really close game the first time, we had to be ready coming in here.”
Meade certainly was ready, recording seven saves in a strong outing.
“He had a great game,” North Penn coach Paul Duddy said. “He is, at this point, a very good, confident goalkeeper. He’s just played tremendously. The boys believe in him.”
Following a similar pattern to the first meeting between the two teams, the Knights got on the board early. Less than seven minutes into the contest, Houlihan tracked down a ball over the top from Ryan Stewart and buried a shot.
The Knights’ 1-0 lead held up for less than three minutes as Conestoga’s Nate Xu – on a counterattack – turned a pass from Brown into the equalizer.
Both teams had opportunities to score the go-ahead goal in a spirited contest, but the respective defenses and keepers Meade and Aidan Niggeman stood tall.
The game-winner came after a strategic move that put the versatile Stewart up top, a position he does not usually occupy.
“He and his brother (Jamie) are the heart and soul of the team and Carter (Houlihan) is and Josh (Jones) is, but the Stewart brothers are just phenomenal,” Duddy said. “We move them around. Sometimes we have Ryan back, sometimes we have him midfield. We put him up top a little bit tonight, and it kind of paid off.”
Saturday’s win came less than two weeks after North Penn defeated Conestoga 3-2 in a District One 4A semifinal contest.
“It was a great high school game – they’re a great team,” Duddy said. “They have great experience, they know how to win big games, and I’m just extremely proud of this group that they were able to step up and beat a very good team.
“In this game, as we all know, all it takes is one break, and that game could have gone either way tonight. Just credit to the boys – they work hard, they stick together.”
“We live to fight another day,” Ryan Stewart said. “We go at the next team just like every other team – just give it our best.”
North Penn (23-1, 11-0 SOL) will face District 12 champion La Salle in Tuesday’s semifinal round. The Knights defeated the Explorers 2-0 in a non-league contest Sept. 21.
North Penn 1-0-1 2
Conestoga 1-0-0 1
#1-5 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1, #7-2 MT. LEBANON 0
For the second time in three years, Central Bucks West is back in the PIAA Class 4A semifinals, and for the Bucks, it was just another road trip – this time to Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg – and another one-goal victory.
That’s been a successful formula during the team’s magical postseason run, and what might have once seemed improbable suddenly doesn’t seem improbable at all for a West squad that was seeded 23rd in the 24-team District One 4A Tournament.
“We’re happy to be back,” coach Stefan Szygiel said of advancing to the state semis. “Top to bottom it was just a solid, solid performance tonight.
“There wasn’t a standout guy, there were just a lot of hard workers, a lot of soldiers/road warriors, whatever you want to call them at this point.”
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie at the intermission.
“We kind of had a little bit of a slow start,” Szygiel said. “The first 15 minutes I thought Mt. Lebanon really came out hot.
“I don’t think it was by virtue of we started slowly – I think they forced us to start slowly. Credit to them – they had to get on a bus just like we did and drive three-plus hours. The first 15 were definitely in their favor, and there were some unnerving moments.
“They forced us into early adjustments which in any playoff game – those early adjustments are what could make or break. We made the adjustments accordingly, we settled in a little bit and we started to find our stride.”
The Bucks netted the game’s only goal midway through the second half.
“The second half I think we started to assert ourselves a bit more,” Szygiel said. “Probably halfway through the second half we got a throw-in. (Freshman) Carter Philo flicked it on to Jimi Leder. Jimi was able to take on a defender or two, kind of got into a crossing situation near the end line. He crossed it in, but it could have been a shot. It looked like it was an own goal situation, but if you ask Jimi, he’ll tell you it was his goal as any goal scorer would.”
The Bucks’ defense made that 1-0 lead stand, holding Mt. Lebanon off the rest of the way.
“I was really pleased with how we then defended,”Szygiel said. “We were bought into – ‘We are going to see this game out and advance.’
“I just think everybody was on the same page, and after we were able to find one goal, it wasn’t necessarily about finding a second. It was about – ‘Let’s not concede, continue to value the clean sheet.’ I’m very pleased with that.”
Goalkeeper Ryan VanPelt was credited with four saves and notched his 12th clean sheet of the season.
“They had a special player up top, they had a special player in the midfield, and they just had a lot of grinders and hard workers,” Szygiel said of the Blue Devils. “It’s tough – it’s not like we went out to Pittsburgh and scouted Mt. Lebanon. It’s not like they came out here and scouted us – if they did, that’s pretty special.
“I just think we made the adjustments, the boys were bought in to those adjustments and we executed those adjustments. That to me was the difference.”
Central Bucks West (13-7-5, 5-4-3 SOL) will take on District One runner-up Boyertown in a semifinal contest Tuesday. Boyertown defeated District 3’s fourth place squad, Palmyra, 3-0.
“Every game gets harder,” Szygiel said. “It’s not just about the opponent – it’s about the moment, it’s about a number of things, but we’ll prepare accordingly. Boyertown will prepare accordingly. Something has to give.
“They know us, we know them. Three of the final four are District One opponents. Obviously, it speaks to the strength of the district, but you also have to take a step back, and regardless of how this goes for anybody moving forward, you have two teams from the same conference in the final four.
“A program that we respect immensely on the other side and a program we’ve battled with for years. It’s just how it goes. I’m really happy to see the district represented, but two of the last four standing from the Suburban One Continental – I think it’s really cool to see, and it speaks to the strength of the league.”
Central Bucks West 0-1 1
Mt. Lebanon 0-0 0
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