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By Nate Ritchey
nritchey@altoonamirror.com
CRESSON -- Hollidaysburg and Penn Cambria entered Thursday afternoon having not scored in each of its last two games.
Both goalkeepers (Tigers' Liam Jancula and Panthers' Duncan Gongloff) came into the contest with six shutouts apiece on their resumes.
While each team broke that scoreless streak, it was a tale of two halves with PC getting two in the opening half while Hollidaysburg followed suit with two of its own in the second 40 minutes.
Overtime was appropriate for two of the better teams in the area, and it took a misdirected shot off the foot of Hollidaysburg's Asher Miles to end things as the Tigers escaped Panther Stadium with a 3-2 overtime victory in high school boys soccer action.
"You don't shoot, you don't score. You've got to take your chances," Hollidaysburg coach Craig Shale said. "That's a game of two halves. Even though we were two goals down, I didn't feel we deserved to be two down. We played well, and you could tell they (Penn Cambria) were getting tired the second half. ... We just had that momentum, and we just kept plugging away."
Very early in the extra session, Miles received a throw-in from Micah Blake, and the junior settled the ball to his right, turned away from an oncoming defender and fired a shot that looked like it was headed for the right corner of the goal.
However, the ball deflected off the back of PC's Jackson Rice and changed direction enough to go by Gongloff, who was moving to his left, and into the back of the net at 9:19 of OT.
Hollidaysburg entered having lost to Altoona (3-0) and tying Bedford (0-0), while Penn Cambria dropped a pair to Tyrone (4-0) and Penns Valley (1-0).
"I'm proud of the guys -- they haven't really had to dig in much this season (aside from the two Altoona games and Bedford)," Shale said. "It was a good game for them to show what they can do when they come together as a team and just fight."
It was PC that saw the ball go in the net first when a Cody Farabaugh corner kick was headed out by the Tigers to Jake Zunich, who settled the ball on the right foot before quickly curving a ball into the right side of the net to give the Panthers a 1-0 edge at 26:19 of the first half.
"They (Hollidaysburg) made a mistake when two of their players collided going for the ball," Penn Cambria coach Nick Wanyo said. "But then our captain Jake took the ball, and he has one shot and it's a curling shot. It was a beautiful shot he made."
Penn Cambria, which only had three shots on goal the entire match, made good on its final one when Nick Marshall delivered a direct kick through traffic at the goal that involved three teammates, two defenders plus the keeper, as the ball went in the goal untouched for a 2-0 Panthers' lead with 9:18 to go before half.
"We didn't have many chances today but the chances we had, we made count," Wanyo said.
On the flip side, Hollidaysburg dominated in chances as it had 17 of its 27 total shots find their way on goal.
After the first nine were denied by Gongloff, the Golden Tigers finally delivered as Blake's shot, from the left side of the goal, extended off a redirected corner, hit the rightside netting to put his team on the board with 22:19 showing on the scoreboard in the second half.
Hollidaysburg continued rifling shots and possessing the ball on the attack as it had several prime opportunities turned away.
The Tigers' persistence paid off as Blake crossed a ball from the right side over to Alex Arbogast on the left middle of the pitch. The sophomore settled and quickly unleashed a shot that found its way back across the goal to the right side to knot the contest at 2-2 with only 1:41 remaining in regulation to send the match in overtime.
"I knew it was going to come -- it was just a matter of time," Shale said.
SCORE BY HALVES
Hollidaysburg 0 2 1 — 3
Penn Cambria 2 0 0 — 2
First half: PC--Zunich (unassisted), 26:19; PC--Marshall (unassisted), 9:18.
Second half: H--Blake (unassisted), 22:19; H--Arbogast (Blake), 1:41.
First overtime: H--Miles (unassisted), 9:19.
Goalies: Hollidaysburg-- Jancula: 1 save, 3 shots on goal; Penn Cambria -- Gongloff: 14 saves, 17 shots on goal.
Shots: Hollidaysburg 27, Penn Cambria 8.
Corner kicks: Hollidaysburg 4, Penn Cambria 5.
Records: Hollidaysburg (9-2-1); Penn Cambria (8-4-0).