By Nate Ritchey

nritchey@altoonamirror.com

JOHNSTOWN — Second-seeded Bishop Carroll-McCort and top seed Westmont Hilltop split the two regular-season matchups as members of the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference.

The most recent meeting was exactly two weeks ago so not much, if anything, has changed for either team.

The familiarity played a huge factor as the two schools played scoreless through regulation and one overtime, before the Hilltoppers put one into the back of the net in the second OT for a 1-0 win over the Crushkies to capture the District 6 Class 1A title Wednesday night at Greater Johnstown High School’s Trojan Stadium.

“Both teams fought hard and someone had to win,” Carroll-McCort coach Chad Ryan said. “Westmont’s a good competitor but we just couldn’t get on the right end today.”

WH had eight corner kick opportunities, including two in the first extra session, that either missed the mark, went too deep, was saved by C-M goalkeeper Angus Ryan, was cleared out or simply missed wide or over the goal on the attempt in.

Everything finally lined up for Westmont on the ninth and final chance as Sebi Jones played a short, line drive about 4 yards in front of the goal.

Senior Easton Ragno got enough of a touch on it to have the ball ricochet off Angus Ryan and go in at 7:40 in a golden goal scenario that gave WH the title.

“We’ve been working the last couple of weeks on what are called short corners where instead of just kicking the ball into the middle of the field, we just touch it real short,” Westmont Hilltop coach Ed Corona said. “We had a couple of really good opportunities off of those, and then at the end we decided to switch it back up again, and instead of floating it real high up in the air, we hit a rocket because it could bounce off of anybody.”

For the match, the Crushkies placed 10 shots on goal that Alex Mondick came up with, while the Hilltoppers had 12 on the goalmouth that Angus Ryan saved 11.

C-M finished 8-10-2, while WH advances to the PIAA playoffs with a 12-8-0 record.

In the first overtime, Angus Ryan had to make a diving save eight minutes in on off a Jones shot.

WH got a corner kick with 10 seconds remaining but Jones’ quick play in went into the outside of the goal as the horn sounded.

Three minutes into the second extra time, Carroll-McCort had a prime opportunity as Will Tremel played a ball through to Eli Cunningham that a WH defender whiffed on.

Cunningham chased the ball down in the middle where Alex Mondick came sliding out and forced the Cunningham shot to go wide left of the goal for C-M’s only good chance of the second OT.

“They (Carroll-McCort) didn’t give up — they just kept trying,” Coach Ryan said. “Even when Westmont possessed a bunch, they just didn’t give up. I tell the kids all the time — just don’t give up.”

In the first half, neither team was able to find the back of the net as most of the play went back-and-forth between the two penalty boxes.

Each team had two corner kicks apiece with WH getting the only real chance off one as Jones had his shot bounce off a C-M defender to teammate Eli Brownlee with four minutes to go.

Brownlee recovered the ball near the endline and dribbled into a shot to the near post but was turned away by a Cruskie defender guarding that post.

Westmont Hilltop dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half as it had chance after chance on the attack.

Angus Ryan was forced to make more than a few saves in that stretch to keep the match scoreless.

Three corner kicks and three free kicks gave the Hilltoppers plenty of quality opportunities.

The Crushkies began to find their groove as Cunningham got a good chance at the 28-minute mark, but his rip inside the 18 caromed off a defender.

Seven minutes later, C-M got a shot off just inside the box that Alex Mondick knocked away and then quickly covered up.

The Hilltoppers made a push on the attack in the final 20 seconds, but couldn’t penetrate the Carroll-McCort defense who cleared the ball out to end regulation.

“They (Bishop Carroll-McCort defense) have been the heart of this team all year,” Coach Ryan said. “Those four with Gus (Ryan) have been the unspoken heroes. There are no defensive stats that show just how good they really are.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Bishop Carroll-McCort 0 0 0 0 — 0

Westmont Hilltop 0 0 0 1 — 1

Second overtime: WH–Ragno (Jones), 7:40.

Goalies: Bishop Carroll-McCort — Ryan: 11 saves, 12 shots on goal; Westmont Hilltop — A. Mondick: 10 saves, 10 shots on goal.

Shots: Bishop Carroll-McCort 15, Westmont Hilltop 22.

Corner kicks: Bishop Carroll-McCort 3, Westmont Hilltop 9.

Records: Bishop Carroll-McCort (8-10-2); Westmont Hilltop (12-8-0).