Deer Lakes carries growing confidence into WPIAL finals matchup with Beaver

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 | 7:05 PM

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The Deer Lakes boys soccer team made an early exit from the WPIAL playoffs last year, falling as the No. 7 seed to East Allegheny, 2-1, in the first round.

The returning players, including the seven Lancers seniors, veteran forward Ryan Hanes said, dedicated themselves to getting back to the championship game, a place they knew very well from appearances in 2019 at Highmark Stadium and 2020 at North Allegheny.

With Monday’s 1-0 victory over undefeated and top-seeded South Park, that mission has become a reality.

Deer Lakes, the No. 4 seed, has won a trio of 1-0 results in the playoffs and will return to Highmark Stadium on Thursday evening to face No. 6 Beaver for WPIAL gold.

Opening kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

“Our first-round game (against No. 13 Hopewell), we were kind of on edge a little bit because we remembered what happened last year,” Hanes said. “Everyone is 0-0 heading into the playoffs, and anything can happen. But once we found the net, it all seemed to come together. That win was a huge confidence booster for us. We knew then that we’re playing and were ready to keep going.”

The Lancers (19-2) then topped No. 12 West Mifflin, 1-0, in the quarterfinals. Senior Nate Litrun used his height at 6-foot-5 to gain an advantage and headed in corner kicks for goals in the wins over Hopewell and West Mifflin.

“We have so many guys on this team who can score,” Litrun said. “It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities you have. I was in the right position for those goals, and it was such a great feeling to be able to help my team like that.”

The two winning goals give Litrun seven goals in the playoffs, tied for fourth on the team in scoring with freshman midfielder Collin Rodgers.

Hanes leads the team with 31 goals and 18 assists. Freshman Peyton Kushon owns 17 goals and four assists, and senior Ruger Beer has nine goals.

Beer scored one of the biggest goals to date for the Lancers with the lone score against South Park, an unassisted tally with 27 minutes left in the second half.

The Lancers defense and senior keeper Nick Braun made the lead hold up in the triumph.

“This is a great. Not many teams can say they’ve made it to a WPIAL title game three times in four years,” Braun said. “We had a great group of seniors who moved on in 2020, and we weren’t sure if we would be able to live up to what they helped the team accomplish and get back to the championship game. But we did with this group who has worked so hard to make this happen. We are super excited for (Thursday).”

Sixth-seeded Beaver (14-6) stunned No. 2 Quaker Valley, 1-0, in the sixth round of penalty kicks Monday to advance to the WPIAL finals for just the second time in program history. The Bobcats lost the 2006 Class 2A title game to South Park, 1-0, at Elizabeth Forward.

Senior goalkeeper Robert Cestra made the final save to clinch the shootout, 5-4, and he was then mobbed by his teammates.

“It’s a great feeling, and I am really proud of the boys,” Beaver coach Scott Hazuda said. “None of us involved now were a part of that game in 2006, so this is new for all of us.”

The Deer Lakes players and coaches were on the bus heading home from Peters Township when they heard the news.

The Bobcats lost 5-0 and 2-0 to the Quakers in the regular season.

“Did most people think that Quaker Valley was going to prevail? Probably,” Smith said. “But hat’s off to Beaver. In the playoffs, anything can happen, and they are playing really well right now.”

The win over Quaker Valley was the Bobcats’ second straight penalty-kick victory. They went nine rounds in the shootout with Section 2 co-champion Shady Side Academy in the quarterfinals and finished off the 2-1 victory.

“We’ve done well to sort of peak at the right time, Hazuda said. “The PK shootouts were so dramatic and stressful but also so much fun. But just getting to PKs with a team like QV was a struggle. It was a battle. We’re playing well at the right time of the year. The boys are playing with a lot of positive energy and playing for each other, and we’re seeing the results of that.”

Beaver made the move back down to Class 2A in the offseason after several years in Class 3A and in a rugged Section 2 with the likes of playoff qualifiers West Allegheny, Moon, South Fayette and Montour. The Bobcats’ 14 wins this year are one more than they had the past four years combined.

Beaver made a run to the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals in 2017 before falling to Quaker Valley, 3-1. They came back in the third-place game and earned a berth in the PIAA tournament with a win over Central Valley.

The Bobcats defeated Deer Lakes in the quarterfinals. It was the last time the teams met before reuniting on the Highmark turf Thursday.

Senior Jameson Bonnar leads Beaver in scoring with 16 goals to go along with six assists. He scored a season-best four goals and added an assist in an 8-2 win over No. 11 Brownsville in the first round and tallied his team’s lone goal in regulation against Shady Side.

The current Beaver and Deer Lakes teams are not unfamiliar with each other as they scrimmaged before the season began.

“Deer Lakes is such an experienced program who is well tested in games like the one they were in with South Park,” Hazuda said. “For them to upset South Park wasn’t totally surprising to us. I figured it would be a close game, and it was. We are going to have to be at our very best (Thursday).”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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