Another shutout sends Bentworth boys into 1st PIAA championship game

By: Liam Belan
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 11:37 PM

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The Bentworth boys soccer team has spent this season making history.

The Bearcats marched to Highmark Stadium and captured their second straight WPIAL championship — the second in program history — earlier this month.

Now, after defeating McConnellsburg, 2-0, at Westmont Elementary’s Price Field in Johnstown on Tuesday, the Bearcats (21-0) will play for the state championship for the first time in school history when they take on Lancaster Mennonite at Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg on Friday.

Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.

“I think our touches were so effective tonight,” Bentworth coach Nick Malarbi said. “To be able to hold the ball up in a game like this for seven, eight minutes and just kill the game is huge. The kids are getting smarter at it because we’ve been getting put in these positions.

“So it’s just that experience in learning. Tonight, I think our pressure was all over the field. It was great — another shutout for us.”

The Bearcats managed to blank their opponents for the 18th time this season, with Bentworth goalkeeper DJ Hays shattering the program clean-sheet record, according to Malarbi.

Bentworth hasn’t conceded a goal since Sept. 26 in a 7-1 win over Greensburg Central Catholic. It was a testament to the depth of the victors after senior defender Gaige Davenport went down with an ankle injury with 18:27 left to play and they managed to overcome it with Isaac Reynolds filling in.

“He’s unfortunately had ankle problems in the past,” Malarbi said. “It wasn’t on purpose or malicious or anything. I think he got stepped on and he thinks he heard it pop. He’ll be evaluated.

“It’s gonna hurt us (if we don’t have him). It definitely sucks when we get through the finish line and he could easily be out there on the field for the next game, but we’ll see. Maybe the X-rays come back clean and he springs back tomorrow.”

Not only was the backline impressive for Bentworth, but the midfield and forwards were, too. Billy Moyer scored the first goal of the match on a great pass from Adam Moessner before Ryan Moessner scored on a penalty kick he drew to put the match away.

“It felt really good to score there,” Ryan Moessner said. “The defense did a good job working hard and not letting up any goals, and then being able to step up and put the game away felt great.”

The loss ended the season for the District 5 champion Spartans (19-4-1).

After Bentworth had the majority of the possession early in the match, McConnellsburg started to grow into the action as 15 minutes passed.

The Bearcats didn’t generate a chance from their time on the ball, but the Spartans did, starting with a cross flashed across goal that wasn’t met by anyone. A minute later, McConnellsburg earned a corner kick and Jackson Skiles put in a great ball that was met by the head of Hoyt Glenn. Glenn’s header forced Hays into a point-blank save that he made to keep the match scoreless.

Not long after, Jace Fletcher had a long shot that forced Hays to dive left and parry another hard effort, but he did his job again to set up Bentworth’s first goal of the match.

With 25:17 gone in the match, Adam Moessner played a great ball to Moyer on the left wing. Moyer, who looked close to being offside, took a few touches and slotted it by McConnellsburg goalkeeper Reese Alexander with a perfectly placed shot to make it 1-0 in favor of Bentworth.

The action went back and forth for the rest of the half, but there was only one more concrete chance as Ryan Moessner beat a few defenders and fired a cross towards Moyer that he couldn’t reach.

Out of the halftime break, the Bearcats continued to win 50-50 balls and outwork the Spartans. The work ethic from Bentworth played a big role in the positive result.

“We worked hard on winning those, especially after the last match where Mercyhurst (Prep) won a lot of headers over us,” Malarbi said. “We put a lot of pressure on tonight, and that was a big part of it.”

Glenn had one more opportunity as he found himself one-on-one with Hays early in the second half, but he had a tough angle to score on the left side of the box and Bentworth’s keeper was able to make a strong save to keep the Spartans off the board.

From there, it was all Bentworth as they generated more chances and continued to keep the ball from McConnellsburg. With 5:33 left, Ryan Moessner was putting on a dribbling clinic against the Spartans and forced a foul in the box to earn a penalty kick that he comfortably slotted to the bottom left corner of the net to finish the scoring at 2-0.

Now, the Bearcats will prepare for the biggest game in program history as they have a chance to sit atop the state.

Standing in their way is a Lancaster Mennonite team that defeated District 3 champion Camp Hill in the other semifinal. That match was a rematch of the District 3 championship that went the other way in favor of Camp Hill.

“From what I know, Camp Hill has been a tough program historically, so for those guys to beat them says a lot,” Malarbi said of Lancaster Mennonite. “We’ll take some time to celebrate this, but we’ll be hitting the books on them shortly.”

Tags: Bentworth