Mirror photograph by Patrick Waksmunski
Penn Cambria’s Kyle Conrad (center) battles Central Columbia’s Torin Karns for the ball at Tiger Stadium.

By Matt Michelone

sports activities@altoonamirror.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG — When you make your first look on a brand new stage in any sport, that may create a whole lot of nerves. It may also present you a studying expertise for what it’s essential do to get the place you need to be over the long run.

Tuesday night time’s PIAA Class 2A first-round boys’ soccer playoff debut for Penn Cambria served as that whereas its historic season got here to a detailed following a 6-0 shutout loss to Central Columbia at Tiger Stadium.

The Panthers gave up one aim every to AJ Sedor and Maguire Blake in a matter of 10 minutes, and from there, the Blue Jays’ protection made it tough for the Panthers to get any sustained assault going for a lot of the night time.

“Central Columbia I knew was a very good team,” Penn Cambria coach Nick Wanyo mentioned. “They have 11 full committed players. They move the ball, they’re very possessive. We struggled with one- and two-touch, sometimes getting the ball at our feet. They even said at halftime, ‘they’re fast,’ and I’m like ‘yeah, they’re very fast.’ We have to get our program to a point where our boys can think as fast as they play.”

Blue Jays coach Zach Diehl believed getting the early tallies had been essential for serving to his squad settle in for the night time.

“The first two were really essential for us to get out early because we’ve been in situations before where someone got up on us and scored, and sat back on us,” he mentioned. “It was really good to get them off of free kicks as well because that’s somewhere I thought we’d have success this year.”

Wanyo believed two vital components that they haven’t dealt a lot helped make life powerful for the Panthers.

“They’re big and physical, that’s one thing that we weren’t used to all year,” he mentioned. “They had two, three kids that were above 6-foot that we never had to deal with. It was an eye opener, even with 50-50s working from there.”

Coming out of the break, Central Columbia picked up the place it left off offensively as Blake, Steve Brink and Andrew Beagle all scored in a matter of 10 minutes to interrupt the sport open and put it out of attain.

“They now see it. Now they’re like, ‘coach, when’s indoor?’ They’re ready to go for the next stage,” Wanyo mentioned. “They saw what they want to become, and I told them the way that it is … you got to just train.”

Diehl was impressed with how far the Panther program has come.

“They’ve got a really good head coach; they’ve got a solid group of players,” he mentioned. “They had been shock winners of their district, and I can see why. They actually have some expertise.

“They defended well for a lot of the game, and just fell to some really well created chances, and really well taken finishes. They’ll go far if they can get enough guys to keep playing. I would expect to see them more in this tournament.”

Wanyo — who has historically given gamers off in the course of the month of November — referred to as Tuesday night time his group’s introduction to taking part in year-round now that they may start indoor exercises quickly.

“They want to get started (on preparations for 2024),” he mentioned. “Nick Marshall’s like ‘when’s indoor start?’ I’m like ‘three weeks.’ I’ll give you the month of November off which, not much left. Once December comes, we’re going to start indoor again.”

Tuesday night time’s defeat, although, marked the top of the road for 4 Panther seniors who performed massive roles in serving to this system make historical past.

“Andrew (Dillon) and Sean (Tomlinson), I knew as freshmen they’d be one thing, and I’m glad they lived as much as what I believed they may. Joey (Hite) and Gabe (Irving) had been nice supporters, they had been nice function gamers.

“All of the underclassmen looked up to all four of them, and they realized we can do it, and it takes what they committed to the program. If we continue with that mentality, we’re going to have a great program here.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Central Columbia 2 4 – 6

Penn Cambria 0 0 – 0

First Half: 1,) CC – Sedor (unassisted), 4:27; 2,) CC – Blake (unassisted), 9:20.

Second Half: 3,) CC – Blake (unassisted), 50:00; 4,) CC – Brink (unassisted), 58:37; 5,) CC — Beagle (unassisted), 59:09; 6,) CC – Taylor (unassisted), 78:12.

Records: Central Columbia (19-2); Penn Cambria (11-8-1).