North Penn, Neshaminy and Pennridge were winners in District One 4A while Upper Moreland captured the title in Class 3A. Neshaminy/Pennsbury photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Pennridge/Upper Dublin photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of both games.
CLASS 6A
#6 NORTH PENN 2, #14 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1 (OT)
Thursday’s hotly contested battle between the SOL Colonial foes was only in the first overtime period, but Chris DePeppe had a feeling the outcome would not be decided in extra time.
“I was writing the lineup of our five PK takers,” the Knights’ coach said.
Dominik Gedek put to rest the idea of penalty kicks, capping a run from midfield by scoring the game-winner six minutes into the overtime period.
“We were talking after the game in all the excitement, and I said, ‘Give the assist to Josh (Jones) for the crossing run that he made, drawing three defenders,” DePeppe said. “That really was what opened it up, and Dominick was smart to just stay on it, stay patient, keep going and going.
“It was a great run on Dominick’s part – not to force the ball to Josh but to keep the ball on his feet. It was one of those goals where he just needed to find the opening to get the shot it. He hit it inside the post – it was pretty classy.”
Lost in the shuffle of the dramatic finish was the tackle at midfield by Alex Stewart that put the ball on Gedek’s foot.
“He’s been doing that all season,” DePeppe said.
It is the second overtime game in as many district contests for the Knights.
“It’s very nerveracking,” NP senior captain Roman Ilvoski said. “With as much crowd as we can have supporting us, especially having the home field advantage under the lights – it makes it very exciting.
“I think it’s all positive vibes going into it to get the win. Everyone is excited and hyped. Our bench is standing up and shouting – it gets everyone on the field excited, and I think in overtime we showed how much we want it.”
“I knew going in that this was going to be a long, hotly contested game, they’re in for the duration,” DePeppe said. “They’re a tough-minded team, strong and athletic.
“They have some really talented attacking players – AJ (Peev) was really good tonight. They know how to defend. They play a certain style with a high back line, so they keep you under pressure.”
The two teams exchanged goals midway through the second half. The Knights went on top 1-0 when Josh Jones scored with a Ryan Mindick assist.
“We got a great goal – Ryan hit a beautiful ball Josh got behind and might have taken one touch and hit another blast,” DePeppe said. “Their keeper (Ryan Gross) was great tonight, but no one would have stopped that one.”
Three minutes later AJ Peev answered with a goal for the Titans.
“As soon as we scored, we’re thinking about adjustments,” DePeppe said. “Usually we drop Josh to mark in the back, but I guess we didn’t do it quick enough because (Peev) came back down three minutes later.
“We had numbers back, we were trying to play safe, but great players make great plays, and he certainly did. I think he had three players on him, beat the two to the right and buried one. Again, the keeper didn’t have a chance. With that kind of momentum late in the game, you worry. I’m really proud of the way our guys held up to it – some of the senior leaders, especially Roman Ilvoski was fantastic tonight.”
“South put up a really good fight,” Ilvoski said. “Especially getting the goal back right away.
“No one at South thought they were going to get in the playoffs, and they won their first game, so they were all hyped and excited.”
DePeppe credited the strong play of Ilvoski, Mindick, Kevin Murphy and Alex Stewart.
“They were unsung heroes because that is a bruising team, and the way AJ (Peev) and some of those guys play – you’re on your can quite a bit making tackles and clearing balls,” the Knights’ coach said. “It was a battle but with class. I thought both teams played hard but clean, and the officials did a good job.
“A lot of it was battled in the midfield. They’ve got some good players in those areas. Their backs tonight were organized. They caught us offsides 12 times in the first match we played with them, so we had been working on some things about that, but they do it very well. We did finally started getting behind them, and we missed a couple chances. For the most part, it was a really well-played game. I thought both teams played really well.”
Thursday’s district quarterfinal was the third meeting between the two SOL squads. The Knights won the first two by identical 1-0 scores.
“We had two shutouts, and I just had a feeling they were going to score tonight – I would have been surprised if we didn’t need two,” DePeppe said. “With the way teams defend Josh, I keep saying, ‘Someone else has to be the one.’ We had three guys who had chances, and the keeper made two really good saves, but they had chances too.
“I tip my cap to them. They forced us to play poorly in two games – a lot of mistakes and offsides, and they made us a better team just by the level of competition. That’s what our conference does. I was sorry one of us had to lose.”
North Penn (10-2, 6-2 SOL) will host #7 Neshaminy in a District One 6A semifinal on Tuesday. Central Buck South closed out its season with a 6-6 record (5-5 SOL).
EXTRA SHOTS: In an interesting side story, Ilvoski found himself playing against his cousin, CB South’s AJ Peev. “I’ve played with my cousin for years on the same team,” Ilvoski said. “I know what he does – what his strengths and his weaknesses are, so I relay that information to my team. He’s a really good player, and I said to my team, ‘He’ll turn, and if you give him a shot, he’ll probably score it’ because he’s a really good target striker, and that’s exactly what he did. He got the goal back right away. We’re really close – we see each other all the time, so there was no hate to it at all. We had a conversation after the game about how good of a game it was – it’s all love.”
Central Bucks South 0-1-0 1
North Penn 0-1-1 2
#7 NESHAMINY 3, #15 PENNSBURY 0
The Redskins have made defense their calling card this season. Thursday’s shutout was their 10th in 13 games this season.
“Honestly, it’s really just been hard work and putting our bodies on the line, doing everything we can to get the ball out, and
then start playing forward,” junior defensive midfielder Connor Steele said. “Our defense was our saving grace, as coach would say, in the beginning of the year.
“We’re confident on the ball in the back. We’ve really just worked on being confident all year long, and it’s gotten us this far.”
Thursday’s game was the Redskins’ third against the neighboring Falcons. All three were shutouts, which included a 0-0 tie.
“I’m very pleased with our guys,” Neshaminy coach Tom Foley said. “We’ve played 280 minutes against that group, and we didn’t allow a goal against them. They’re a pretty good offensive team. That’s a real feather in their cap. They did a great job.
Gavin Rowan – on the heels of a two-goal, one-assist effort against Great Valley – once again was a difference maker. His first of two goals came in the 13th minute of the opening half. AJ Rivera was credited with the assist.
“AJ Rivera collected the ball around midfield and hit a diagonal ball across the field and Gavin beat the defender to the ball, took it down off his chest and beat the keeper to make it 1-0,” Foley said. “It was a great ball by AJ and a real nice collection by Gavin into a composed finish.”
Neshaminy took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
“Pennsbury had one pretty good look in the first half,” Foley said. “Evan Reichard flicked one when it was still scoreless, and (Jaden) Haig kind of ran onto it. He had a good clean shot, and (goalie) Trevor (Rush) was able to just get enough of it and pull it down. It was one of those dipping balls. If it’s another foot higher, it would have been major trouble, but Trevor did a nice job. That was his most difficult save of the night.
“We limited their chances big time tonight. It was probably our best defensive effort against them this year. We bottled up Haig really, really well tonight. He didn’t really do much, and he’s a very dynamic player so to shut him down and limit his chances, that’s a real compliment to the group in the back.”
The Redskins went on top 2-0 on a goal by Ryan Schoeneman in the 52nd minute.
“We got a corner, and Cole Jackson hit a real nice ball to the middle of the box, and Ryan beat everybody to it and had an open net to head it into,” Foley said.
Late in the second half, Rowan found the net with his second goal.
“Manny Weagba kind of (led) him down the left side – Gavin collected it and made a very clever move to get back inside on his right foot, and he hit an absolute seed to the near post,” Foley said. “The goalie had no chance. It was very well struck, he couldn’t have hit it any better. It was low. The goalie couldn’t get down fast enough. It was a great shot.”
The Redskins could have had more, but they misfired on a penalty kick. They are 0-for-5 on the season.
The story on this night, however, was the Redskins’ stingy defense.
“Our defenders played very well,” Foley said. “Lou Salmi did a great job. He was all over the place.
“Connor Steele is our defensive midfielder, and I don’t think he lost a head ball all night. He was absolutely a monster in the middle for us, won balls and stymied them every time down. Overall, the back line did a really nice job on Jaden Haig. I don’t think he had a good look at goal all night.”
While some may be surprised by the Redskins’ success, Steele is not in that number.
“It’s definitely been a crazy journey, but in the end, it’s almost been perfect in the same way it’s been crazy,” Steele said. “We definitely had expectations going into the year.
“We’ve always had them the last couple of years, but this year we knew this is the year we were going to be able to do it. Our core starting lineup has always been the same group of kids since I’ve been here. With all of us maturing and Gavin Rowan and those guys becoming seniors – it was like our last hurrah almost. We just kind of knew this was our year.”
Neshaminy (10-1-2, 6-0-2 SOL) will travel to #6 North Penn for a district semifinal game on Tuesday. Pennsbury closed out its season with a 6-5-1 record (4-3-1 SOL).
Pennsbury 0-0 0
Neshaminy 1-2 3
#12 PENNRIDGE 1, #13 UPPER DUBLIN 0
In the last eight days, the Rams have gone through three straight SOL Liberty opponents to keep their season alive and managed to get past all of them by the same score. Upper Dublin was their latest victim.
“Upper Dublin and coach (Andy) Meehan were fantastic – they were throwing everything at us,” Pennridge coach Pete Valimont said.
Unlike their wins over Hatboro-Horsham and Abington, the Rams didn’t need a late goal to top the Cardinals, and unlike the other two wins, this one came on their home field. That didn’t mean it was an easy win and Pennridge had to survive a late scare to advance.
Pennridge has put a lot of time into its set pieces recently and for good reason. Including Thursday, the Rams’ last three goals have all come via restarts with chances to set up a play becoming even more important in the postseason.
The Rams nearly scored on a corner kick eight minutes in when Connor Gabel found Colin Monahan at the far post for a header back across that Shane Velez wasn’t able to put on frame. A little more than a minute later, they got another chance.
This time, the play began with a corner kick by Jack Saville that found Velez, who headed the ball back to the near post with senior co-captain Ben Scary knocking it home for an early 1-0 lead.
“I knew I had to go front post and get the ball coming across,” Scary, a senior midfielder and co-captain, said. “It was going to be coming from Monahan or Shane and I wanted to be there to tap it in at the post.”
While Pennridge created a few more chances the rest of the way, they would spend much of the match instead focused on 
trying to limit a Cardinals attack playing with a lot of confidence. In the midfield, the Rams keyed in on UD’s Sean Seabrook and tried to keep the playmaking senior from creating chances.
On the outsides, fullbacks Ryan Saville and Dalton Guthrie faced a wave of pressure up the flanks as the Cardinals tried to get the ball wide and in behind the back line.
Holding a lead for a long stretch is different than scoring in the final two minutes and Pennridge started to give up some promising chances for Upper Dublin as the second half wound down. The Cardinals had a prime opportunity to get on the scoreboard, drawing a penalty kick on a foul in the box with 4:37 to play.
However, the PK attempt never had a chance, sailing over the crossbar to give Pennridge a break.
“A bit of craziness at the end,” Valimont said. “We had two tough calls called against us with about five minutes, which was right outside our box and we were able to defend it.
“But they called a penalty kick against us – a 50/50 ball with our goalie, and they felt as though our goalie fouled. They called a penalty against him – didn’t card him so he stayed in the game. The kid, unfortunately for them, just skied it over the top, and we were able to hold it down and lock it down the last couple of minutes.”
There was plenty of praise to go around after Thursday’s win.
“Our outside backs were fantastic – Ryan Saville and Dalton Gutherie were unbelievable tonight, ” Valimont said. “Jake Saville up top really did a good job of holding it down and setting us up to get into our attack.
“Also Nicky Williams – Nicky came off the bench, and he played a lot of minutes tonight, and he’s a stud. He’s done a really nice job, and I’m very proud of him for his effort tonight. He really shined.”
This is just the second time in school history the men’s soccer program has advanced to the district semifinals.
“The last time they were there I was a junior in high school in the fall of 1997,” Valimont said. “It’s fantastic. There was a little bit of anxiety and what have you at the very end, but I told them, ‘Look, somebody is writing these chapters, and it all started out when we got a game and the Hatboro win, the Abington win and now a missed PK that would have sent it into overtime. We hold on the last couple of minutes. Now we find out who we’ll play and we’re excited for the challenge.”
Pennridge (9-5, 5-5 SOL) will be on the road at #9 Spring-Ford in the semifinals on Tuesday night.
PENNRIDGE 1 0 – 1
UPPER DUBLIN 0 0 – 0
Goals: P – Ben Scary
CLASS 4A
#1 UPPER MORELAND 3, #2 POTTSGROVE 2 (2 OTs)
(Check back for a more complete story about the program’s district title)
Matteo Infante found the net with 11:25 remaining in the second overtime, propelling the Golden Bears to the heartstopping win and setting off a jubilant celebration. Upper Moreland had just won the District One 3A trophy.
An exciting regulation that saw the teams exchange goals set the stage for overtime. Sophomore Max Gerlach scored both of the Golden Bears’ goals in regulation.
With the win, Upper Moreland (9-2, 6-2 SOL) advances the PIAA Tournament.
Pottsgrove 1-1-0 2
Upper Moreland 1-1-1 3
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