State championship soccer team takes center stage at Quaker Valley hall of fame induction

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Quaker Valley held its celebratory sports hall of fame weekend for the first time since 2019.

Three former QV athletes — Justin Hughes (basketball), Darren Rogers (football) and Catherine Stewart (tennis) — and three teams were lauded that year.

The 2006 boys hockey and girls tennis teams also were inducted in 2019, as was the 2007 girls tennis team.

But the covid pandemic that hit the nation in 2020 led to a three-hiatus in HOF selections.

This year, six former QV athletes and two teams were scheduled to be honored Oct. 13-14 with official hall of fame inductions.

The 2023 class was to be officially recognized Oct. 13 at the Quakers’ home football game against West Mifflin; a banquet was set for Oct. 14 at Edgeworth Club.

This year’s highly touted HOF class consists of Tabitha Bemis (track/gymnastics/diving), Dean Cvitkovic (football), Dr. Jeff Mulholland (contributor), Dr. Christa Rogers Pettie (volleyball/basketball/track), Justin Shegog (basketball) and Furman South (hockey) and the 1989 boys basketball team and 1993 boys soccer team.

“We are excited for the return of the sports hall of fame weekend,” athletic director Mike Mastroianni said. “Our class reflects our rich tradition across all sports,”

The 1993 boys soccer squad — led by iconic coach Gene Klein, who died in July at age 71 after battling incurable brain cancer for two years, along with assistants Steve Klein, Scott Reimer and Jeff Roberts — is considered one of the best in school history.

Quaker Valley posted a sensational 25-1-1 record and won section, WPIAL and PIAA championships. The Quakers boasted prolific scoring with 195 goals while defensively, the team allowed only 12 scores.

Seth Perkovich served as captain and was voted team MVP. Phil Oxendine, who earned All-American status, and Justin Glessner were co-captains.

A senior midfielder in ‘93, Perkovich was a four-year starter who scored 52 goals in his last two varsity seasons (26 each year).

Oxendine, Armann Fenger and Perkovich were the leading contributors offensively.

Perkovich is an advertising executive and is working on the relaunch of MoviePass. He and his wife, Kelly (Beier), who played soccer and ran track at Baldwin, have three children.

“After living in New York City for 18 years, my family recently moved back to Pittsburgh,” Perkovich said. “We live in Mt. Lebanon.”

Perkovich acted as the Quakers’ team spokesman.

“We were not fun to play against,” he said. “We were big and physical on defense, and we had a ‘three-headed monster’ in attack with Phil, Armann and myself.

“You just didn’t know where the big plays and the goals were going to come from. You could cut off one head, but the other two were still coming at you. This was fully evidenced when we lost Phil in the WPIAL final and Armann, myself and others found the back of the net enough times to continue winning.”

Oxendine was a prolific offensive player who suffered a broken ankle in the WPIAL championship game. A senior forward in 1993, he scored more than 100 goals in his career and was a state champion in the 100 and 200 meters in track and field.

“Safe to say, he was the fastest kid in the state,” Perkovich said.

Fenger, a junior forward in 1993, accounted for 31 goals that season after scoring 27 the previous year.

It was a bittersweet honor for the QV team without Klein.

“I think coach Klein was very proud of this particular team and I wish he was here to celebrate,” Perkovich said. “We lost an All-American player when Phil Oxendine broke his leg in the WPIAL final and still found a way to win it all. That really showed the depth of talent we had that year, but also the cohesiveness of the group.

“I think we were the best team, regardless of size, in the WPIAL. Our last big Saturday game that year was against Butler, which was ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in AAA and to pull a Coach quote, we ‘demoralized’ them in a 4-0 win. We were clicking on all cylinders heading into the playoffs and, without coming across as overconfident, I never thought for a moment we would not win it all. That’s just the mindset we had.”

In recent times, the QV team had a hall of fame mindset.

“Coach actually mentioned it to me and Justin Glessner at the induction of the 1991 team a few years ago. Justin and I were sophomores on that team,” Perkovich said. “He said, ‘You guys are next,’ so I’ve known for a few years that this was coming.

“I never would have imagined that cancer would prevent Coach from being here with us. He was such a strong force of a human, and we are all sad he’s not here.”

QV’s starting lineup in 1993 consisted of four seniors (Perkovich (MF), Oxendine (F), Glessner (D) and Chris Lockerman (MF)) six juniors (Fenger (F), Joe Christof (D), Chad Froman (MF), Zander Shaw (D), Phil Gouker (GK) and John Weidman (D)) and freshman Jobie Glessner (MF).

Top reserves included forwards Jon Rickert and Brad Christof and midfielders Sean Gallagher and Andy Marwaha.

Ryan Croyle, Sam Chamovitz, Joel Perkovich, Chris Churchill, Matt Shannon, Ian Rahm, Frank Dickson, Dave Crawford, Ted Ley, Chris Tedesko, Tom Henry, Patrick Nola, Bill Dickens, Jordan Pass, Patrice Levaque, Sean Norris, Chris Irwin, Mike Bollenbacher and Mike Norris rounded out the massive team roster.

Perkovich and Oxendine landed Division I scholarships to West Virginia and Wake Forest, respectively. Other starters who went on to play D-I soccer were Fenger (Vermont), Christof (Syracuse) and Jobie Glessner (Wisconsin).

Quaker Valley edged East Allegheny, 1-0, in the WPIAL finals as Oxendine scored the game’s only goal before breaking his leg.

The Quakers beat Holy Ghost Prep, 1-0, in the PIAA finals as Armann scored the game-winner off a header.

“There was really a dramatic trilogy that concluded with the 1-0 win over Holy Ghost Prep,” Perkovich said. “In 1991, we beat them 1-0 in the final. In 1992, they beat us 1-0 in the final.

“So, you could say we closed out the best-of-three (with a win) and went out on top.”