Bentworth tastes 1st loss in Class A state finals, falling to Lancaster Mennonite

By: Liam Belan
Friday, November 15, 2024 | 8:31 PM

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Msafiri Amisi has been the main attraction for Lancaster Mennonite’s boys soccer team this year, bagging 20 goals and pushing the Blazers to the PIAA Class A championship game against Bentworth on Friday evening.

The Bearcats did well to quiet him for most of the match, but with one swing of the right boot, he made his goal tally hit 21 and more importantly crowned Lancaster Mennonite as the state champions with the golden goal in extra time.

The Blazers (17-3-3) and the Bearcats (22-1) were stuck in a scoreless deadlock before Amisi was fouled right outside the penalty area just under 10 minutes into extra time. From about 20 yards out, the senior made the free kick his last in his high school career, firing a laser into the bottom right corner that a professional goalkeeper would be hard-pressed to stop.

“It felt very good to get that goal,” Amisi said. “I knew that it was golden goal and that it might be the only chance I would get, so I had to take it. … After practice I would stay and work on my free kicks a lot for moments like this. They’re not always perfect, but I always practice them.”

Practice made perfect in the biggest moment of his career to crown Lancaster Mennonite as the state champions for the second time and first time since 2011.

The loss put an end to the most successful season in program history for Bentworth as it picked up its second WPIAL title — both coming in the last two years — and made a state championship appearance for the first time.

“It sucks, but you get through it,” Bentworth coach Nick Malarbi said. “You tell the guys to breathe and collect their thoughts. You never want to be that team that breaks down, even if they will later or this weekend.

“We had the stands packed with our fans and they were great. Lancaster (Mennonite) had a lot of fans too, so it was a great atmosphere. It sucks to take it to overtime and then (Amisi) gets tripped. It’s a foul, and you get a guy like that on the ball that’s dangerous, he hit a shot that you’re just not saving. Congratulations to the champions.”

Amisi was mostly hemmed in by the Bentworth backline that was missing right back Gaige Davenport after he suffered a sprained ankle in the 2-0 semifinal victory over McConnellsburg on Tuesday. Isaac Reynolds stepped in admirably to fill in for the senior stalwart, and goalkeeper DJ Hays made three good saves to ensure the match went as long as it did.

Both sides came out of the gates quickly, looking to attack wherever they could. There were chances that threatened both teams, but they were all put wide until about 10 minutes in.

Ryan Moessner drew a free kick from about 30 yards out and clipped a ball into the box, and Andrew Vipperman met it with a strong header towards goal, but it went just over the crossbar.

The Blazers came up with some possession of their own and found Amisi. He began to get on the ball over the next few minutes and even put in a great cross that put the Bentworth backline in a tough spot, but they drew a foul as a Blazer was overeager trying to reach the pass.

From there, the Bearcats emerged as the team with possession from the 20th to the 30th minute, working their way through the midfield as Ryan Moessner, Aiden McMurray, Adam Moessner, Dillan Colbert and others connected well to weave passes through the Blazers. However, nothing came of their time on the ball other than a few catches from Lancaster Mennonite goalkeeper Lucas Kratz.

For the last 10 minutes of the first half, the Blazers showcased their ability and forced Hays into the only two saves of the half.

His first was an easy one down to his left side on a shot that was deflected by Vipperman on the way in, but the second one came on the best chance of the opening 40 minutes.

Lancaster Mennonite’s Cooper Halvorsen latched onto a ball in the box and fired a shot that looked destined for the bottom right corner of the net, but Hays ranged to his left to make an impressive save and keep it scoreless going into halftime.

In the second half, Halvorsen put an early shot on Hays from a distance that was easily caught before Kratz was called to action for the first time on a Bentworth free kick.

Nine minutes after halftime, the Bearcats drew a long free kick that Vipperman delivered. After the ball pinged around for a few seconds, Adam Moessner found it and put a shot towards goal that the freshman goalkeeper had to quickly react to. Lucky for him, the shot was fairly close to him, and the game remained scoreless as neither team could find the back of the net.

Kratz was again called to action a few minutes later when Ryan Moessner played a ball to Caden Hackinson in space on the right side. Hackinson took his time and hit a shot with the inside of his foot, but Kratz managed to stop it.

Both teams continued to push as Ryan Moessner had a hard strike parried by Kratz before firing a half-volley just over the crossbar a minute later, but it was meant to be scoreless in another Bentworth final after the Bearcats also went to extra time in their WPIAL championship win over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Two late calls sparked controversy from the Lancaster Mennonite point of view as Amisi went down in the penalty box after a sliding challenge from Vipperman, but the referees allowed play to carry on as the Blazers’ bench and fans erupted looking for a call. Then, less than a minute into extra time, Amisi was played through the Bentworth backline but was called for an extremely close offside call as the LM faithful again let the referees know of their dismay. Still, the Blazers kept pushing and came out flying in extra time.

The clock read 11:45 remaining in the first half of extra time when Amisi stepped up to the free kick that he drew, and he put the match to rest.

Despite the first loss of the season for the Bearcats, they will hold their heads high after an unbelievable defensive season. Not only did they score 128 goals on the year, but they conceded just five. One of those came against a backup goalkeeper, so it was harder to score against Bentworth than any WPIAL team and presumably any team in the entire state regardless of classification.

“I think we played a great game,” Malarbi said. “This is all new for us. We made the PIAA semifinal for the first time last year, and we got even further this year. We’re proud to get another trophy and another banner at the school. It shows the other sports teams that if you work hard, come up with a system and believe in it, that they can go somewhere.

“We gave up five goals in 23 games. One of them was in the state championship and another was against Issac (Vipperman), the backup goalie. I didn’t think that was possible, and I don’t know about any other team that has done that. We scored on the other end as well with over 120 goals. We played a tough team, and the ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

Tags: Bentworth