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Scott scores twice as Highlanders rally to win

HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Cambria Heights boys soccer team has given up the first goal of the game a number of times this season so when it happened in the team’s playoff opener, the Highlanders weren’t particularly fazed by it.

Tyler Scott quickly answered with the equalizer and scored two more goals a little over a minute apart later in the first half to help Heights down Ligonier Valley 5-1 in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals Thursday at Tiger Stadium.

“We’ve been down a goal a lot. It’s not a good habit, but it happens,” Scott said. “We pick up the energy after that and really turn it on.”

The second-seeded Highlanders advance to the semifinals where they will meet Bald Eagle Area, the third seed, Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Mansion Park.

After falling behind 1-0 on a Bastian Christensen goal 12 minutes into the game, Scott scored at at 25:54 mark on a header off Alex Diamond’s corner kick.

“The times we’ve been down this  year, we’ve managed to battle back because of the team’s work ethic and attitude that they don’t want to lose,” Heights coach Adam Strasser said.

The Highlanders then took the lead with the game clock winding towards halftime.

Scott scored on a short kick inside the goal area off a pass from Adam Bobak at the 4:32 mark. The senior forward found the back of the net again 1:09 later with his second header of the night off Adam Duclos’ long throw in.

“Justin Thomas had the goalie shadowed. I slipped in between the two of them and put it in off my head,” Scott said.

Duclos’ strong throw-ins created scoring opportunities throughout for Heights.

“We treat throw ins like they’re corner kicks,” Strasser said. “Caleb has a big throw. We try to take advantage of that and crash the net much like we do on a corner kick.”

The two quick goals nearing halftime gave the Highlanders the momentum heading into the break.

“There goals all came on through balls we should have cleared. The mistakes turned the momentum,” Ligonier coach Kip Crumrine said. “We passed the ball well and created opportunities up to that point, but after those two goals, we started chasing more than we were playing. They started winning more midfield balls and getting more possessions.”

Matt Weimert put Heights ahead 4-1 with 26:28 left in the game. Weimert split two Ligonier defenders, chased the ball down and put a shot into the lower right corner of the net.

Clayton Nelen sewed up the win with 8:14 remaining. Nelen took a pass from John McGowen on the right side and scored on a shot to the left corner.

The second half was played almost exclusively in the Ligonier Valley end as the Rams were unable to mount any sustained offense over the final 40 minutes.

“Coming into the game we wanted to possess the ball more. After we got a couple goals, we started doing a better job winning the ball and controlling it,” Strasser said.

SCORE BY HALVES

Ligonier Valley    1  0 — 1

Cambria Heights      3  2 — 5

First half: LV–Christensen (unassisted), 28:03; CH–Scott (Diamond) 25:54; CH–Scott (Bobak), 4:32; CH–Thomas (Duclos), 3:23.

Second half: CH–Weimert (unassisted), 26:28; CH–Nelen (McGowen), 8:14.

Records: Ligonier Valley (10-7); Cambria Heights (15-4).

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