Franklin Regional boys soccer teams hopes to ride defense to WPIAL title

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 | 10:05 PM

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WPIAL Class 3A boys soccer championship

3-Franklin Regional (18-3) vs. 8-West Allegheny (13-6)

Noon Saturday, Highmark Stadium, Pittsburgh

…

Franklin Regional is a firm believer in a centuries-old sports adage: Defense wins championships.

The Panthers’ back line has been one of the WPIAL’s best, and it could be what brings them their third WPIAL championship in boys soccer.

Second-year coach Nick White said all season he wants to lead his team on a “relentless pursuit of victory.”

Relentless defense from a mostly experienced back four has helped produce 13 shutouts in 21 games.

The third-seeded Panthers (18-3) have allowed only 10 goals as they head to Highmark Stadium on Saturday afternoon to play No. 8 West Allegheny (13-6) for the WPIAL Class 3A championship.

“We can’t get bullied off the ball. We have to be the bully,” said junior defender Thomas Bridges, the Section 3 Player of the Year. “We don’t make any excuses. If we lose, a team got the best of us. If we won, it was because of our effort.”

Franklin Regional, despite losing five starters from last year’s WPIAL runner-up team, remained firmly in the title hunt with a quietly strong group that time forgot.

“Nobody believed in us,” senior goalkeeper Emerson Bush said, using air quotes for nobody. “We knew we lost a bunch of goals but knew we’d be OK.”

A tidy win in the semifinals catapulted the Panthers back to Station Square.

“Bethel Park is one of the highest-scoring teams in the WPIAL, and we shut them out,” White said. “I can’t say enough about how good that effort was. There was such a team attention to detail. They had two All-WPIAL guys, two 20-goal scorers, and we held them in check.

“Our back line has been strong, but so have a bunch of our other guys.”

The Panthers’ backfield unit of Bridges, senior Dom Mascara, senior Keaton Sheetz and freshman Colton Walker worked to shut down Bethel Park, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, 1-0.

The unit, along with Bush, made sure senior Fabrizzio Costa’s 63rd-minute goal held up as the Panthers advanced to the finals for the fifth time in eight years.

“We know the offense is going to put up numbers,” Bridges said. “We want to play physical.”

The defense also includes senior Joey Benson and another freshman, Luca Aguilera.

“Me, Thomas and Joe, we bring that experience from last year,” Mascara said. “We wanted to lead the team and bring the new guys along. We know if we keep our composure — not ‘when in doubt, kick it out’ — we can win. We need to control the tempo with our defense.”

What is unique about the Panthers’ back line is that they often help to create scoring opportunities, a strength of White’s group.

Cruise Lamanna, for instance, is a defending central midfielder who has cashed in on offensive touches.

Like Bridges and Bush, Lamanna brings size and matchup issues.

Lamanna is 6-foot-3, Bridges 6-2 and Bush a towering 6-6.

“Daniel (Todd), Cruise, Rory (Bayne), Liam (Greenbaum), they all have been on the attack as defensive guys,” White said.

It’s not uncommon for Bridges to block a shot on one end and zoom into frame seconds later for a strike on frame or a booming free kick.

Bush took over for Noah Walker, who is now the starting keeper at Marietta.

“It starts with our prep,” Bush said. “Every game we are so prepared. My job is so easy when guys like Thomas are in front of me. There are times when I say, how did he just do that?”

Franklin Regional has been infested with injuries — too many to mention — but has filled voids with seamless execution, something at which players and coaches marvel.

Dare the Panthers say the revolving door made them stronger?

“There is no drop-off,” Bush said. “It’s been pretty amazing to see young guys come in play so well. We haven’t missed a beat.”

It has almost become a theme: One player goes out, another comes back. Sheetz’s return was a midseason shot in the arm, as was the return of Michael Hillebrand, who added another scoring threat to the attack.

“Next man up,” White said. “All year it’s been someone stepping up. That is one of the things I am most proud of, how we’ve dealt with adversity.

“We have to be pushing for a record for most letterwinners in a season. We’ve played a ton of guys. It speaks to the depth of the program. I mean, we had two freshmen playing in the WPIAL semifinals.”

White will make his third trip to the finals. He made it as an assistant at Fox Chapel in 2015 and last year as a rookie head coach.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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