CR North and North Penn advanced to Wednesday’s District One 4A semifinals while CB East and Pennsbury are two of four teams battling for the fifth and final state berth. Pennsbury/NP photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography.
#3 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 4, #6 NESHAMINY 3
It might not have been a classic soccer game, but the Indians won the war in a quarterfinal battle between the conference rivals who met for the third time this season.
“They’re an excellent squad,” North coach Joe Stackhouse said. “They have three very, very good players in Jack McCourt, Danny Grindrod and Dylan McDonald. I can’t say enough about those three kids, and the rest of their kids picked up their game and played their roles they needed to play today.”
As a result of its win, Rock North earned a date with second-seeded West Chester Henderson in Wednesday’s semifinal and also the program’s first trip to the state tournament since 2011.
“I thought we had a special group of kids with these kids,” Stackhouse said. “They think it’s great that we won the conference and all, and that’s all well and good, but I told them from the beginning our overall goal is to be playing come Nov. 2. If you’re playing Nov. 2, you know you’re states.
“To be honest, I don’t want to relax on this. I’m a very fierce competitor, but I’m happy for them because they’re really good kids.”
Saturday’s game was a roller coaster ride for both sides. Jack McCourt spotted the Redskins a 1-0 lead when he scored in the eighth minute, but the Indians knotted the score on a goal by Grant Bonas in the 34th minute to send the teams into halftime deadlocked 1-1.
“That’s one thing about our kids – they are very unfazed about playing from behind,” Stackhouse said. “I sat a couple of starters down after 20 minutes because they just weren’t doing the job. I probably played 18 kids.”
Ryan Pave gave the Indians a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute, but five minutes later, Grindrod answered with the equalizer for the Redskins.
“The best goal of the game was Danny Grindrod’s – he had a direct kick from about 27 yards out into the upper 90,” Stackhouse said.
Back-to-back goals by Nikita Ihlin in a six-minute span 25 minutes into the half – the first from Dennis Karpovitch and the second with a Conor O’Donnell assist – put the Indians on top 4-2. With nine minutes remaining, Kevin Sheenan (McCourt assist) scored to pull the Redskins to within one but they would get no closer.
Stackhouse credited several players in the winning effort.
“Nikita (Ihlin) did his usual job,” the Indians’ coach said. “We brought a kid off the bench – Ryan Pave, and he scored the second goal for us. The wind in the stadium was really bad, the ball blew over the last back’s head, and he just took it. Somehow the goalie overran the ball, and he just tapped it into an empty net. It was all composure because he could have easily blown it.
“Sean Finneyfrock had to come in and play some defense and so did Alan Browning. They both came in and played in two different spots in defensive roles because we had a kid go down hurt and also lost a kid to a card.”
The win was the third of the season for the Indians over the ‘Skins.
“It’s hard to play a team three times,” Stackhouse said. “They know us intimately. (Coach) Tommy Foley and Jimmy McCourt – I consider them friends and have been teammates with them on a number of teams, so we know each other real well.
“I told our kids in our two practice sessions heading up to it – we have to do certain things correct. We didn’t execute our game. As well as we played Thursday night (in a 3-2 win over Unionville), we looked poor today. The game was ugly, but to be able to win is the mark of a good team.”
Council Rock (16-2-2, 10-2 SOL) will travel to second-seeded West Chester Henderson for Wednesday’s semifinal contest. Neshaminy (14-6, 8-4) will host seventh-seeded Lower Merion on Wednesday in a playback game as four teams battle for the final state berth.
Neshaminy 1-2 3
Council Rock North 1-3 4
#5 NORTH PENN 2, #4 PENNSBURY 1
The postgame scene at the final horn was a study in contrasts. While the Knights converged for a jubilant celebration, many of the Falcons dropped to the field, their disappointment apparent.
It’s that time of year when the stakes are high, and for the Knights, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate. They not only earned a spot in Wednesday’s district final but also earned the program’s first trip to the state tournament since 2004.
“It means a lot,” senior Nate Baxter said. “It’s my first time, and it’s very exciting for me and I know for my coaches as well. They’ve been wanting it probably even more than we do.”
The win was hard earned as the Knights – sparked by a pair of Luke McMahon goals – rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to earn the win.
“They’re a good team, they’re a very good team, and they deserve all the credit,” North Penn coach Paul Duddy said. “(Tom) Stoddart does a good job with them.
“It was a hard played game by both teams and fair.”
Fourteen minutes into Saturday’s contest, Knight keeper Bobby Dean came up with a stop at point blank range on a 1v1 to keep the Falcons off the board.
“Bobby’s a wall back there,” senior defensive back Noah Kwortnik said. “He stops everything. He has great reflexes, great positioning, and he doesn’t let anything get by him. He’s just the essential goalkeeper to have. I credit him for all the great saves he had for keeping us in this game.”
There wasn’t a whole lot Dean or anyone else could do on Zach LoBasso’s textbook direct kick from 20 yards out that found the net and gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead with 13:52 remaining in the first half.
If the Falcons had the better of play in the first half, the tide turned in the second half when McMahon turned a Baxter cross to the far post into the equalizer.
“That was huge,” McMahon said. “It was a great ball by Nate, and I just saw it sailing to the far post, so I made my run through there.”
“He’s got great speed, and that’s always tough to defend,” Duddy said of McMahon. “And, of course, (Mike) Kohler setting stuff up.
“In the second half, we started to play like we normally play – possessing the ball and moving it around real well. The goal calmed us down, and we played some good soccer.”
With 19:57 remaining, Pennsbury keeper Nate Slotnick came up with a stop on a shot by Carter Houlihan, but McMahon was there for the rebound, one-timing it into the net from close range for a goal that turned out to be the game winner.
“Coming into the game, we all knew we had a mission and we wanted to win the game,” McMahon said. “In the first half, we were dominating possession in the middle, but we just weren’t getting the chances we wanted, so the second half we knew we had to create the most of our chances.”
“We knew they liked to kick and run and we like to possess more,” added Baxter. “At halftime, we said – don’t push up our defensive line too much, watch their big players up top – number 7, 17 and 16 (Obi Onouha, Zach LoBasso and John Griffin), shut them down and we’ll play our game.”
With the Falcons pressing as time wound down, the Knights’ defense was impenetrable, winning head balls and preventing the Falcons from generating any serious attack. The 6-5 Dean – for the second time in the game – came out of a crowd and punched a pass into the box out of harm’s way.
“We’ve been getting the big goals all along,” Stoddart said. “This is the first game all season that we haven’t scored two or more goals, so you have to credit their keeper first, obviously, their defenders and some of it is just the fate of the gods.
“I thought we were going to be very dangerous. We talked about it as the game played out they were going to want to possess the ball 60 percent of the time and we were going to want to possess it 50 percent, so it was going to be a little bit of a battle. I told my kids not to really get frustrated with it. Our attack is dangerous enough that I thought we could take advantage of it.”
Duddy tipped his hat to his defense.
“When you have a 6-5 keeper, it helps you,” the Knights’ coach said. “And Noah Kwortnik plays great.”
North Penn (16-3, 10-2 SOL) will travel to top-seeded Conestoga for a semifinal match on Wednesday while Pennsbury (16-4, 9-3) will host eighth-seeded Central Bucks East in a playback game on Wednesday at Macclesfield Park (3 p.m.).
“It’s our third straight matchup against theh Suburban One Continental,” Stoddart said. “I’d much rather play outside the Suburban One League in the district playoffs, but it is what it is.
“That fifth spot is not only a trip to the state tournament, but I think it’s actually a good position to get into the state tournament. You don’t play for the fifth spot, but now we are, so we’re going to do our best. It should be a pretty competitive four-team tournament next week.”
North Penn 0-2 1
Pennsbury 1-0 1
#1 CONESTOGA 1, #8 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
The top-seeded Pioneers needed a goal in the 76th minute by Logan Schwartz to edge the two-time defending district champion Patriots.
It is the second 1-0 win of the tournament for an undefeated Conestoga squad that exacted some revenge after falling to eventual state champion CB East twice last year, both times by identical 2-1 scores – the first in the District One AAA title game and the second in the state semifinal.
In second round action Wednesday, Conestoga edged 17th-seeded Abington 1-0.
Central Bucks East (12-5-3, 9-2-1 SOL) will travel to fourth-seeded Pennsbury for a playback game on Wednesday.
Central Bucks East 0-0 0
Conestoga 0-1 1
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