CB West & CB South battled to a 1-1 tie in SOL boys’ soccer action Friday.
SOL Colonial Division
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1 (2 OT)
A hundred minutes could not determine a winner in Friday’s regular season finale between the neighboring school.
“Tonight was always going to be an interesting one,” said South coach Kyle Pettican, whose team clinched the conference title on Wednesday. “With playoffs right around the corner, neither team wanted to overdo it. We kind of had a ‘title hangover’ from the Pennridge game on Wednesday. A draw was a fair result and probably the best situation in the end for both Cooper (Moyer) and I.”
For the Bucks, Friday’s game was an opportunity to honor the team’s 12 seniors – JP Tomlinson, Carter Philo, Christian Neeld, Chase Naso, Christian Evans, AJ Rihl, Blake Amero, Ben Sterling, Tekalegn Leaf, Jack Denicore, Cole Young, Cole Kujath. All 12 started.
“He was able to get all of his seniors in, and I was able to rest some of our main starters for a good chunk of the game,” Pettican said. “We went up 1-0 in about 10 minutes off a cross to the back post where Nate MacLeod kind of thighed it in.”
Moyer was pleased with his team’s response after falling behind early.
“I’ll give my guys credit,” the Bucks’ coach said. “None of them were negative about it, none of them got down on themselves. They looked over at me like – okay, we’re good, let’s go get one. It was a really positive response after giving up such an early goal.
“As the game went on, we made a few changes personnel-wise. We were creating a ton of chances. It was a very back and forth game.”
The Titans took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
“We came out again creating chances, back and forth and back and forth,” Moyer said. “It was a really fun game to watch as a spectator. It was back and forth soccer for a hundred minutes.”
The Bucks evened the score on a restart.
“We got a foul called for us about 25 yards out on the left side, and my junior center back, Jace Peterson, kicked the ball so hard – I don’t even know how to describe it because it was one of the best free kicks I’ve seen in a long time,” Moyer said. “I give him credit because he practices them all the time on his own at training, and he stepped up when we needed him to, and that tied it up 1-1.”
Not a whole lot changed the remainder of regulation as both teams generated chances, but both defenses stood tall.
“That’s just how overtime went too,” Moyer said. “It was back and forth evenly matched.
“I’ll give credit to my back line. The defenders were unbelievable tonight. Cole Young was working in there and had a heck of a game. He’s a guy who’s been a four-year varsity starter for West. This was one of the best games he’s had in a while, and it was kind of fitting that he had it on that field. I was really, really happy with his performance.
“Kyle Flaherty, Jace Peterson, Kevin Leiva-Benitez – those guys really defended well and helped us get forward and kept us together as a group.”
Moyer also credited his team’s bench.
“I thought they were loud against Pennridge Monday – they were on another level tonight, and that’s so promising as we’re getting later in the season with playoffs looming,” Moyer said. “The whole team has bought into what we’re doing. Every single guy is 110 percent in, and they just want to win. When you have kids that are disciplined and kids that are that invested not just in themselves but in the team and the team’s goals, it makes being a coach a lot of fun.”
With district seedings all but finalized, the pressure that typically accompanies a division game was absent.
“There wasn’t much to the game – it was very 50/50,” Pettican said. “They equalized when an unfortunate ball popped up and hit our guy in the arm from about 25 yards out. They scored midway through the second half from a 25-yard free kick where to be honest no keeper was getting to. Just one of those unfortunate outcomes, but it is what it is.
“Cooper and I are good friends, known each other for a few years now. I am glad to see us both bring success in our first season.”
Moyer also tipped his hat to his counterpart.
“I want to give Kyle Pettican a lot of props,” the Bucks’ first-year coach said. “I’ve known Kyle for a really long time, and I’m really happy to see another first-year coach have such a good year and win this league. I thought they played a great game tonight. It was a classic Central Bucks rivalry back-and-forth slugfest.”
Central Bucks South (12-4-2, 11-3-2 SOL) was the eighth seed in the latest District One 4A power rankings which will be finalized on Saturday. Central Bucks West (7-8-3, 6-7-3) was ranked 20th.
Central Bucks South 1-0-0-0 1
Central Bucks West 0-1-0-0 1
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