Player of the year Danny Battista, South Park teammates beat Burrell to return to WPIAL finals

By: Jerin Steele
Monday, October 28, 2024 | 9:54 PM

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On Monday afternoon, Danny Battista was named the WPIAL Class 2A boys soccer player of the year, and a few hours later, he helped make sure South Park would defend its title.

Battista scored twice, and the top-seeded Eagles ended No. 13 Burrell’s improbable run in the WPIAL playoffs with a 3-0 victory in the semifinals at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium.

The Eagles (19-1-1) will play the winner of Monday’s late game between No. 2 Avonworth and No. 3 Deer Lakes in the WPIAL 2A championship at Highmark Stadium. The date and time for the match is to be announced.

“It’s special to get to go back,” Battista said. “We get the opportunity to go back, but now we have to finish the job.

“Obviously, it’s nice to get player of the year, but that wasn’t the focus today. The focus was winning this game and moving on to the championship.”

Burrell (10-10) scored an upset win in penalties over No. 4 Quaker Valley in the first round and beat No. 12 Seton LaSalle, 1-0, in the quarters but was unable to conjure up another bracket-buster Monday.

The Bucs fell in the semifinals for the second consecutive season. Last year, they were in Class A.

Ryan Wesolowski got the scoring started for the Eagles with a goal in the 15th minute. He received a cross in the middle of the box and drilled a shot into the net. It was the first goal Burrell had conceded in the postseason.

Battista got his first goal in the 28th minute. He found a loose ball in the box and slammed it home. Then, in the 37th minute he provided another by finishing off a Caden Loveland cross with a header at the back post.

That gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead going into halftime and the cushion needed to have a chance to defend their title.

“I’m proud of the boys,” South Park coach Jon Cantwell said. “Obviously, it’s well known that we lost a number of players from last year’s team. It’s never easy to get back, but these guys stepped in and filled roles.”

South Park, which had outscored opponents 87-11 coming into Monday, maintained the lead in the second half despite some challenges from the Bucs. Billy Kowalkowski put a couple of free kicks on target that had to be stopped by Eagles keeper Cooper Hochendoner.

“I thought we put it together in the second half, but, unfortunately, it was too late,” Bucs coach Andrew Kariotis said. “I thought we actually played better today than when we beat Quaker Valley in the first round.”

Burrell will regroup and get ready for the third-place game Wednesday. The winner will continue into the state tournament. The site and time are to be announced.

Burrell was in a similar situation last season. After the Bucs lost to Bentworth in the semifinals, it defeated Seton LaSalle in the third-place game and went on to make a run to the state quarterfinals.

“Even though we were down 3-0, playing as well as we did in the second half gave us some confidence,” Kariotis said. “They’re already looking forward to it.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Burrell, South Park