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Patriots fail in title shot, head to playoffs 12-4

By Josh Horton

Both the Pittston Area and Lake Lehman soccer teams had to battle the torrential downpour for much of Friday’s night game at Lehman for the Division 2 title, but Lake Lehman seemed immune to the wet conditions and won 3-0.

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Left, Lehman’s Chris Edkins and PA’s Dylan Korjeski go for a header. Above, PA’s Tom Allardyce controls a dribble.

Photos by Fred Adams

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Left, Lehman’s Chris Edkins and PA’s Dylan Korjeski go for a header. Above, PA’s Tom Allardyce controls a dribble.

Photos by Fred Adams

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The game was the last of the regular season. PA went in 12-3. Lehman was 11-3-1.

Friday night’s game was one of the most aggressive games of the season. Both teams were running hard and really going after the ball.

Lake Lehman definitely had the home field advantage. The Patriots are used to playing on grass, but Lehman’s field was turf. The soccer ball moved much quicker on turf than it would have on grass and the Patriots had trouble judging the length of their passes. For example, the Patriots like to use the sideline, but last night an abundance of passes traveled out of bounds.

Kris Konicki struck first for Lehman with 31:29 left in the first half. Danny Precone was credited with the assist.

Less than 10 minutes later Lehman extended their lead to 2-0. J.J. Karlowicz scored from less than 10 yards out and PA keeper Brian Werts had no chance at stopping Karlowicz’s shot.

Lehman had a 2-0 lead at the half, but they weren’t done yet. Danny Precone scored with 33:16 remaining in the game and extended the Knights lead to 3-0. The Patriots wouldn’t be able to bounce back from the deficit and lost 3-0.

Brian Werts had 8 saves for the Patriots.

The Patriots were without senior captain Mike Blasi. Although Blasi couldn’t play, he was vocal from the bench and really wanted to be out there with his team.

Pittston Area went to Lehman with hopes of a division title, they left without it, but there is good news -- the Patriots season is not over. At 12-4, the Patriots finished in second place in the Division 2 standings and they will be headed to the playoffs. Pittston Area will square off with Coughlin on Wednesday in the first round of the playoffs.

Meyers 3 Patriots 2

The Patriots lost their third game of the season on Monday to Meyers. Meyers dominated the Patriots for the majority of the game. The Mohawks had a 3-0 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game but the Patriots didn’t give up. Pittston Area fought hard and scored two goals less than 5 minutes apart.

Matt James scored just 4 minutes into the game and gave the Mohawks a 1-0 lead.

Meyers second goal came at the 18th minute from the foot of Bill Trowbridge. Matt Hromchack was credited with the assist.

Meyers scored their final goal of the game in the 28th minute. Ross Lavan scored on a pass from Jeff Frail.

Pittston Area scored their first goal in the 73rd minute of the game. Ian Tracey found the back of the Meyers net and shortened Meyers lead to 3-1.

Just 4 minutes later, Scatena scored and Meyers had a 1 goal lead with 3 minutes remaining.

Pittston couldn’t score the tying goal and lost 3-2.

Pittston Area 3 Nanticoke 0

Pittston Area improved to 12-3 after defeating Nanticoke 3-0 on Wednesday. Ian Tracey led the way for the Patriots with two goals and Danny Scatena contributed with one goal.

Less than 8 minutes into the game, Danny Scatena took advantage of a penalty kick and the Patriots jumped out to an early 1-0 lead

Ian Tracey scored his 2nd and 3rd goal of the week to ensure victory for the Patriots. Tracey’s first goal came with 18:41 remaining and his second goal was just 6 minutes later. Pietro Colella had one assist for the Patriots.

Brian Werts had a great game between the posts. He had 7 saves and picked up the shutout win.

Warriors have Bulldogs number

Wyoming Area had the Berwick Bulldogs number this season in soccer and the number is two. The Warriors, who finished 4-12, beat the Dawgs (10-4-2) twice, 1-0 on September 22 and 2-1 On Tuesday.

The two wins were half the Warriors win total and half the Dawgs loss total. The Warriors effectively kept Berwick out of the Division 2 title picture.

In Tuesday’s game at Tenth Street, Nate Brague scored both WA goals, one in each half. Tony Richards and Kevin Bott had assisted. The winner came at 13:23 of the second.

The Warriors lost to Meyers in their season final this week.

Editor’s note: Though the PA-Lehman game was billed as Pittston Area’s first chance for a title in program history, that’s not technically true. In 1994 the WV soccer conference was divided into three divisions: Division 1, Division 2-A and 2-B.

Stories from the archives of the Times Leader and this newspaper say the Patriots won the championship of Division 2A, which they did with a 13-3 record. Hazleton won the 2B title. PA and Hazleton played off for the overall Division 2 title in a post-season game and Hazleton won 1-0 in OT.

Sal D’Amico, the PA coach in 1994, said he and his team considered themselves division champs. PA athletic director Charlie Turco said the school does not have a trophy or banner associated with 1994 soccer. – Jack Smiles