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A good measuring stick

FOLLOWING THE FORGE

By Rick Notari rnotari@psdispatch.com
Pittston Sunday Dispatch Staff Writer

The Old Forge soccer team didn’t want to have to play Mt. View. Heck, they wanted to avoid the defending District 2 Class 1A champ at all costs. And who could blame them.

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Jared Heckman (5) and Ian Nemetz (4) are among 10 returning starters for the Old Forge soccer team next season.

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Jared Heckman (5) and Ian Nemetz (4) are among 10 returning starters for the Old Forge soccer team next season.

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The Eagles play in the LSL Division I with soccer giants Abington Heights, Delaware Valley and Scranton Prep, and play at a level of soccer that the second-year Blue Devils were not ready to play at.

Or so one thought.

After Thursday’s match, Old Forge seems quite further along in its development of a soccer program in just its second year than expected. At the beginning of the season, the Blue Devils’ goal was to make the play-in round. But as the season went, that goal changed

“We had the kids playing at a high level in the beginning of the season,” said Head Coach John Argonish. “But the way were playing as the season went on we were hoping for a little more.”

That, “little more,” was an automatic berth to the district playoffs that would have come with a win over Lakeland on Tuesday. A last-second overtime loss to the Chiefs crushed the Blue Devils new goal.

Despite the disappointment of not making the D2 playoffs, the game against Mt. View became a good measuring stick for a program that is still in the learning stages of development.

“It was a rough week for us soccer-wise,” said Argonish. “The way we lost at Lakeland, it shouldn’t have come to that. But hopefully we learned you need to play to the last second. Hopefully we can take things out of the losses this week to build upon for next season, and use it as a learning experience.

“We are ahead of schedule in terms of developing this program. We had hoped to play for a district title in four years when we started, but I think we are there next year. We have the people in place to challenge for the division. That might be hard to believe for a 5-5-2 team, but the talent is there.”

That talent showed on Thursday as the Blue Devils played close to, and even with the Eagles for a majority of the game. The experience of playing against one of the big boys should pay off for the future of the program.

Old Forge’s competitiveness in the loss also showed that the Blue Devils might be ready to change its style of play next year.

“We are going to try to play a different style of soccer next year,” said Argonish. “We are going to play a Division I style. The games are faster. The ball moves a lot quicker. I want us to be that type of a team. I think we have the skilled players to do that.

“We need to have all of our players working toward the same goal while being committed to the program.”

The Rick’s D2 Top 10

The Rick’s District 2 Top 10 didn’t have much movement at the top of the poll after Week 8, but the bottom of the poll had some movement as Scranton Prep lost.

The No. 9 Cavaliers were upset by Lakeland Friday night, knocking them from the Top 10. That two loss allowed No. 8 Berwick and No. 10 Old Forge to each move up one spot in the rankings to No. 7 and No. 9 respectively.

Valley West upset Williamsport on a field goal with nine seconds left to move up to No. 6 ahead of Dallas which dropped to No. 7.

Old Forge moved up a spot to No. 9 and GAR moves into the Top 10 at No. 10 after three of the teams in the next five slots (11-15) each lost Friday night.

Here is the Top 10....

1. Dunmore…8-0(1)

2. North Pocono…7-1(2)

3. Abington Heights…6-1(3)

4. Hazleton…6-2(4)

5. Wallenpaupack…6-2(5)

6. Valley West…5-3(7)

7. Dallas…7-0(6)

8. Berwick…6-2(8)

9. Old Forge…8-0(10)

10. GAR…6-2(NR)

D2 Class 1A standings

After Friday night’s scores it looks all most for certain that the Blue Devils will take on either Riverside or Meyers in the first round of the District 2 Class 1A playoffs in Week 11.

As of presstime, the Mohawks led the Vikings by 80 points in the race for third place, with their game against Lehman yet to be played on Saturday night.

Riverside has games left against Montrose (1-7) and Dunmore (8-0). Meyers played Lehman (3-4) last night, and will play Pittston Area (2-6) next week and GAR (6-2) in Week 10.

Should Meyers win one of those games, they would lock up the third seed unless Riverside was to win both of its remaining games. If the Vikings were to defeat Montrose and upset Dunmore, the Mohawks would need to win two-of-three games to prevent a trip to Old Forge for a first round matchup with the Blue Devils.

Old Forge has locked up the top seed and a home game with Northwest projected to earn the No. 2 spot in the tournament.

Here are the standings….

1. Old Forge…1040 (8-0)

2. Northwest…550 (4-3)

3. Meyers…370 (3-4)

4. Riverside…250 (2-6)

5. Holy Cross…130 (1-6)

6. Trail…0 (0-8)

The newest Blue Devil

Congratulations are in order for Old Forge softball coach Pat Revello and his wife Heather after the couple welcomed their second child to the family – a boy. Joseph Patrick Revello was born Tuesday, October 20.

And leave it to Coach Revello – a known Red Sox fanatic – to get his wife to give birth on the fifth anniversary of Boston’s American League clinching victory over the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS.

Just another reason for Coach Pat to celebrate.

Wilson on Pitt roster

Last week’s Homecoming Game at Old Forge also brought back former Old Forge wide receiver and current University of Pittsburgh wideout Caleb Wilson.

Wilson was in town during the Panthers road game at Rutgers. The sophomore dresses for home games and even got on the field in the Panthers Week 1 win over Youngstown State.

Finnerty playing for Bloom

Former Old Forge all-state lineman Mike Finnerty is an integral part of the nationally ranked Bloomsburg Huskies. Finnerty is an offensive lineman in his junior season on the undefeated and Top 5 team.

McMyne headed to Cape Cod

Villanova pitcher and Old Forge grad Kyle McMyne recently signed with a team in the prestigious Cape Cod summer baseball league. McMyne played in the Northeastern League this past summer and showed enough to get an invite to play in the top summer league on the East Coast in 2010.