Central Columbia too much for Penn Cambria boys
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By Matt Michelone
sports@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- When you make your first appearance on a new stage in any sport, that can create a lot of nerves. It can also provide you a learning experience for what you need to do to get where you want to be over the longer term.
Tuesday night's PIAA Class 2A first-round boys' soccer playoff debut for Penn Cambria served as that while its historic season came to a close following a 6-0 shutout loss to Central Columbia at Tiger Stadium.
The Panthers gave up one goal each to AJ Sedor and Maguire Blake in a matter of 10 minutes, and from there, the Blue Jays' defense made it difficult for the Panthers to get any sustained attack going for much of the night.
"Central Columbia I knew was a very good team," Penn Cambria coach Nick Wanyo said. "They have 11 full committed players. They move the ball, they're very possessive. We struggled with one- and two-touch, sometimes getting the ball at our feet. They even said at halftime, 'they're fast,' and I'm like 'yeah, they're very fast.' We have to get our program to a point where our boys can think as fast as they play."
Blue Jays coach Zach Diehl believed getting the early tallies were crucial for helping his squad settle in for the night.
"The first two were really essential for us to get out early because we've been in situations before where someone got up on us and scored, and sat back on us," he said. "It was really good to get them off of free kicks as well because that's somewhere I thought we'd have success this year."
Wanyo believed two important factors that they haven't dealt much helped make life tough for the Panthers.
"They're big and physical, that's one thing that we weren't used to all year," he said. "They had two, three kids that were above 6-foot that we never had to deal with. It was an eye opener, even with 50-50s working from there."
Coming out of the break, Central Columbia picked up where it left off offensively as Blake, Steve Brink and Andrew Beagle all scored in a matter of 10 minutes to break the game open and put it out of reach.
"They now see it. Now they're like, 'coach, when's indoor?' They're ready to go for the next stage," Wanyo said. "They saw what they want to become, and I told them the way that it is … you got to just train."
Diehl was impressed with how far the Panther program has come.
"They've got a really good head coach; they've got a solid group of players," he said. "They were surprise winners of their district, and I can see why. They really have some talent.
"They defended well for a lot of the game, and just fell to some really well created chances, and really well taken finishes. They'll go far if they can get enough guys to keep playing. I would expect to see them more in this tournament."
Wanyo -- who has traditionally given players off during the month of November -- called Tuesday night his team's introduction to playing year-round now that they will begin indoor workouts soon.
"They want to get started (on preparations for 2024)," he said. "Nick Marshall's like 'when's indoor start?' I'm like 'three weeks.' I'll give you the month of November off which, not much left. Once December comes, we're going to start indoor again."
Tuesday night's defeat, though, marked the end of the line for four Panther seniors who played big roles in helping the program make history.
"Andrew (Dillon) and Sean (Tomlinson), I knew as freshmen they would be something, and I'm glad they lived up to what I thought they could. Joey (Hite) and Gabe (Irving) were great supporters, they were great role players.
"All of the underclassmen looked up to all four of them, and they realized we can do it, and it takes what they committed to the program. If we continue with that mentality, we're going to have a great program here."
SCORE BY HALVES
Central Columbia 2 4 - 6
Penn Cambria 0 0 - 0
First Half: 1,) CC - Sedor (unassisted), 4:27; 2,) CC - Blake (unassisted), 9:20.
Second Half: 3,) CC - Blake (unassisted), 50:00; 4,) CC - Brink (unassisted), 58:37; 5,) CC — Beagle (unassisted), 59:09; 6,) CC - Taylor (unassisted), 78:12.
Records: Central Columbia (19-2); Penn Cambria (11-8-1).