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PLAINS TWP. — With the first game of Thursday night’s Wyoming Valley Conference All-Star doubleheader ending up in a rout, it looked as though the second game might be headed for the same fate.
But a re-energized and fired up Team Red wasn’t rolling over.
Wilkes-Barre Area senior David Abbey scored with six minutes remaining to complete a comeback from three goals down, as the Boys All-Star game between Team Red and Team Black ended in a 3-3 draw at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
Even better for Abbey on the equalizer: the assist came from one of his Wolfpack teammates.
“I got the redirect from Joey (Egidio), it landed right at my feet,” Abbey said. “I know time’s ticking down, I needed to get the last shot and I scored.”
Egidio had an adventurous night, starting in goal for Team Red and finding himself playing about 80 yards upfield at different points before switching to attack in the second half
Abbey’s Team Red, made up of seniors from Berwick, Dallas, Lake-Lehman, Pittston Area, Tunkhannock, Wilkes-Barre Area and Wyoming Seminary, found itself on the wrong end of a 3-0 deficit at halftime.
Team Black was comprised of seniors from Hanover Area, Holy Redeemer, Hanover Area, Wyoming Area and Wyoming Valley West.
One of those Spartan seniors, Aidan Kaminski, was the one most responsible for that 3-0 score at halftime: Kaminski scored all three of Team Black’s goals.
Team Red must have figured something out during the brief intermission, because they quickly became the more aggressive team and attacked Team Black’s rotating group of goalies.
Fresh off a state semifinal match just two nights ago, it was a couple of standouts from Dallas that got the ball rolling from Team Red.
First, Carter Brunn made a great run and hammered one past the Team Black goalie to make it 3-1 just a few minutes into the second half.
Devon Nelson got his name into the scoring column at the 26:36 mark, showcasing his speed and his ball skills in maneuvering his way into position to let one rip for another Team Red goal.
After playing even for about 20 minutes, Abbey got his opportunity. Egidio found him, and the Wilkes-Barre Area senior found the back of the net to tie things up with just 6:29 left to play.
“It sucks being down 3-0, we knew this was our last game of the season,” Abbey said. “We wanted to have fun but we also wanted to win, we had to pull ourselves together.”
Kaminski got the scoring started for Team Black on an empty net: with Egidio playing all the way up on a corner kick, the ball made its way to Kaminski and he raced down the middle of the field to the other end of the pitch for his first goal.
His second goal was a corner kick, Kaminski taking the corner and bending it around Egidio into the back post. He added a third, more orthodox goal late in the first half to complete the hat trick.
“I feel really good about it, I’ve given it my all these past four years and I wanted to end on a good note,” Kaminski said. “It was awesome.”