State earns upset over rival Altoona boys
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By Nate Ritchey
nritchey@altoonamirror.com
WINGATE -- When it comes to the Altoona and State College boys soccer teams, you can throw records out the window.
That theme played out from start-to-finish in Wednesday night's District 6 Class 4A title game as the two teams battled into a second overtime.
A penalty kick goal by the Little Lions proved to be the difference as State College captured its fourth straight district championship with a 2-1 win over the Mountain Lions at Bald Eagle Area High School.
"It's always a war because they (players) know each other -- they play club together, a lot of them," Altoona coach Dave McCarter said. "We're always seeing them in the district final, so we know when we get here that it's always going to be for all the marbles and who is moving on. It's win or go home. Our guys were up for it, their guys were up for it. This one was a classic tonight."
Top-seeded Altoona entered the contest with 16 wins, including a 3-1 defeat of State College on Oct. 7. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Little Lions picked up just five victories on the season.
However, none of that mattered once the whistle blew off the opening kickoff as the rivals fought back-and-forth through 80 minutes of regulation and 29 minutes of extra time.
With one minute left and a shootout looming, State's Arthur Cleveland was tripped up in the box by an Altoona defender -- drawing a penalty kick.
Little Lion senior Rand Parrillo strolled to the mark, set the ball and backed up as Altoona goalkeeper Luke Mitchell awaited the whistle and kick.
Once the whistle blew, Parrillo strolled up and delivered a shot into the right corner of the goal to end the match as teammates rushed on to celebrate with the 11 already on the pitch.
"We've had five overtimes this year and we haven't lost," State College coach Danny Orton said. "So, we're practicing for those mental moments. There have been times in games this year where we've messed up mentally. So, I reminded them (State College) going into the overtime that that's all it was. What's done is done. We're a little frustrated at that point to be going into overtime. … But, we've just got to make sure that we stay calm and give ourselves a chance to get the goal."
With Altoona's season in the balance, Jace Black delivered not only a game-tying goal, but one with flare as the junior connected on a bicycle kick off a pass from Justin Bossler that went over the head of State College goalkeeper Dylan Lawrence, and in to knot the contest at 1-1 with 2:01 left in regulation.
"That's one of the best goals you're going to see out of a high school player or from anywhere -- it was unbelievable," McCarter said. "… It was a great ball in, he played it perfectly, baited the defender over the top, ran onto it, just jumped full through the ball and hit it firm -- no doubter, it was beautiful."
Despite being outshot the entire second half, Black made good on just the third Mountain Lion shot on goal in the second half.
After the half, the Little Lions dominated on both shots and shots on goal, leading to many more chances to grab an extra goal compared to Altoona trying to get the equalizer.
The Mountain Lions had just four total shots in the second 40 miniutes with three on net. On the flip side, State got off 12 shots with seven of them being on goal.
But Altoona was getting opportunities by driving deep into its attack zone, but couldn't find the right opportunity to pull the trigger on goal.
"We got the ball deep -- we played into their (defensive) zone a lot," McCarter said. "We just didn't get that final pass to get enough clean looks. Which I told my guys that I don't want them shooting wasted shots. So, in terms of that (driving deep into attack zone), I thought we played them even-up."
Altoona began the contest not on the same page as the communication was lacking and passes failed to connect -- leading to a few chances by State College.
The Mountain Lions dodged a couple of miscues and moments where neither player went for the ball because they each thought the other was going to get it.
However, around the sixth minute, the Lions left Mitchell out to dry as Arthur Cleveland picked off a bad pass, took one touch and found the foot of Mason Sampsel.
Sampsel, who was positioned on the left side, caught an Altoona defender sleeping as he made an inside run to put the defender on his left hip, received the ball with the right foot, took two big dribbles into open space in the middle and fired a shot from around the 18.
The ball easily got by a charging Mitchell and went into the left side of the goal for a 1-0 State College edge at 33:04 of the first .half
"We spent all day (Tuesday) on those types of patterns for our wide side midfielders to get involved, so that we are not just going 1-on-1," Orton said. "When the center forward's got it or attacking center mid's got it, we want them getting on the edge of the back four. Mason did it perfectly, and it was a great finish."
The goal woke up the Mountain Lions who got their first shot in the 14th minute but were unable to capitalize.
With 14 minutes left in the first half, Black put a through ball to Colin Etters on the left side of the pitch. That was before the junior ripped a shot that Lawrence dove to his left to make a save that eventually crossed the endline for the Mountain Lions' only corner that was quickly cleared away by State College.
SCORE BY HALVES
State College 1 0 0 1 — 2
Altoona 0 1 0 0 — 1
SCORING SUMMARY
First Half: SC–Sampsel (Cleveland), 33:04.
Second Half: A–Black (Bossler), 2:01.
First overtime: none.
Second overtime: SC–Parrillo (penalty kick), 1:00.
Goalies: State College — Lawrence: 9 saves, 10 shots on goal; Altoona — Mitchell: 15 saves, 17 shots on goal.
Shots: State College 25; Altoona 14.
Corner kicks: State College 8; Altoona 4.
Records: State College (6-7-3); Altoona (16-3-0).