PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | September, 2021

DOWNINGTOWN—It may have just been an early September, non-league game, but over the past half a dozen years or so, Conestoga and West have built quite a rivalry in field hockey. More than a handful of games were decided in overtime, and more often than not, the teams would meet again deep in the District playoffs, with lots more on the line.

Wednesday evening at West’s Kottmeyer Stadium, the two teams squared off for the Pioneers second game, and West’s first game of the season. This time around, it was Conestoga (2-0) that left the field with a victory, staving off a furious second half comeback bid by the Whippets (0-1) to come away with the 3-2 win.

“The last time we played, they knocked us out of the district tournament, so this was a little redemption for us,” said Conestoga coach Regan Marscher. “This was a whole team effort from our forwards all the way through our goalie. It’s a nice starting point for us.”

The Whippets got on the board first, barely two minutes into the contest, when Carly Smith found Ciarra Margetich with an open shot on goal, and Margetich slammed it home for a 1-0 Whippet lead.

But it didn’t take long for the Pioneers to answer back. Just past the 11:30 mark in period, the Pioneers forced a penalty corner, and converted, with Maggie Carson finding the back of the cage for the equalizer.

“I was really proud of the way the team responded there,” said Marscher. “When West scored so quickly like that, it would have been easy to get down on themselves. But no one panicked, and just got back to doing what we needed to do.”Stoga notched the next two goals unanswered, with junior forward Kate Galica coming through with a goal just seconds into the second quarter, and again early in the third.

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Stoga’s Shae Wozniak races Kylie Briggs

down the sideline (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)

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NETHER PROVIDENCE — Friday night was all about revenge for Nate Perlman and the Strath Haven football team.

Sweet revenge.

“They beat us last year and we were down after our loss to them,” said Perlman, the Panthers’ outstanding defensive end/linebacker. “We wanted to prevent that this year.”

Perlman was referring to Strath Haven’s defeat at Marple Newtown last October. It was the second game of a six-week season, but the setback proved costly in the long run for the Panthers, who coughed up a 10-point third-quarter lead en route to a three-point loss.

The Panthers claimed third place in the Central League and finished 5-1 overall. Meanwhile, Marple Newtown won five straight to start the year and earned a spot in the Central League championship game against Garnet Valley.

It was a spot the Panthers thought should have belonged to them.

“They ruined our chance at Garnet Valley,” Perlman said.

This year’s game was never in doubt. The Panthers dominated from the get-go, steamrolling Marple Newtown, 41-13. Strath Haven scored on the second play from scrimmage — a Chase Barlow 54-yard run — and found the end zone on all five of its first-half possessions.

“We were thinking about it the whole entire offseason,” said Perlman, who was a beast on defense, racking up several tackles. “All of the sprints, all of the running, all of the lifting in the offseason was for this game. They stood in our way.”

Strath Haven (2-0) put on a clinic. An old-fashioned offensive performance by coach Kevin Clancy’s team. The Panthers averaged a ridiculous 20 yards per play in the first half. The combination of running backs Barlow (118 yards), Anthony Crawford (73 yards) and Matt Shuler (64 yards) overwhelmed the Tigers.

“They outplayed us a year ago,” Clancy said. “We felt like we needed to come back and have a good game, not only for the guys last year but obviously for ourselves this year. We’re liable to play them again (in the district playoffs) the way this thing is going. I have an awful lot of respect for their coaching staff and their team and they are tough to stop. But I’m proud of our kids tonight. It was a tough test; we play kids both ways, and they bore down and did a great job. They played their assignments on defense and did a really outstanding job. Offensively, I thought we executed really well.”

One player, Shuler, had no trouble executing the rare pass play called by Clancy. Quarterback Sam Milligan was a perfect 5-for-5 for 131 yards and three scores when the Panthers did decide to air the ball out. On two occasions Milligan connected with Shuler, who had touchdown catches of 38 and 59 yards in the first half. Nobody in MN’s defense could track him down.

“It’s beautiful when it happens,” Shuler said. “They just crowd all 11 in the box because we’re a team that’s known for running. So, when we do pass, it’s just wide open. No one’s expecting it. Like I said, it’s beautiful.”

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SPRINGFIELD — It took a little while for Springfield’s offense to get going Thursday night, especially the connection between quarterback Jake Rama and wide receiver Robby Longo. Despite a summer of working together, their timing was a bit off.

“We just weren’t on the same page,” Rama said.

In their defense, the Cougars only had one practice because of the short week and Hurricane Ida, which wiped out practice on Wednesday.

Once Rama and Longo got in sync, the Cougars rolled to a 42-6 victory over Harriton in the Central League opener for both teams.

“I think we have some stuff to work on. It was a slow start in the beginning, but they showed some resilience by sticking to it,” Springfield coach Chris Britton said. “We have a lot of young guys and I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, but we have some stuff to clean up.”

Longo agreed.

“We have to come out strong,” Longo said. “We can’t play like that against the better teams in our league. It was a rough start but we finished strong.”

Rama and Longo hooked up six times on five passes and one running play for a total of 188 yards and two scores. Rama finished 10-for-13 for 231 yards and four TDs, all in the first half. Longo was on the receiving end for five of those completions for 131 yards and two scores. He had a running play that went for 47 yards and almost resulted in another TD. Longo took a lateral from Rama and raced up the visitors sideline only to be stopped less than a yard from the end zone.

“I’m still so mad at that,” Longo said . “One of our coaches wasn’t here and he texted one of our other coaches. I know I’m going to get busted for that. That was terrible, but it’s OK. We got the W.”

Springfield came out on top because the two Rama-to-Longo touchdown connections were things of beauty. Longo rose up to haul in a 27-yard pass from Rama to get the Cougars on the scoreboard on their second possession of the game.

The second TD was even better. The duo hooked up on a stop-and-go route that covered 74 yards and gave the Cougars a 14-0 lead.

“That route is great,” Longo said. “That double move is fun. It was a good play call on coach’s part. I wanted it and he got it to me.”

After the score, Rama went up to offensive coordinator Sam Mormando and said, “Good play call, coach.”

“We just put in this week and worked really well in practice,” Rama said. “I just looked and I knew right away it was going to be wide open. I wanted to give coach his props. He put his trust in me and Robby to make that play.”

Springfield scored on its next play when Rama found Aidan Kreydt for a 57-yard score. He closed out the half with a 15-yard scoring strike to Zack Tropiano with six seconds left in the second quarter.

“There were two or three minutes left in the first half and I thought we were just going to run the ball, run the clock out,” Rama said. “That was good momentum going into the second half.”

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Springfield receiver (5) Matt Dickinson and (14) Robby Longo celebrates

Longo’s touchdown after catching a Jake Rama pass in the second quarter

against Harriton Thursday evening. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group)

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