No. 1 seed Moon pounced on and defeated No. 7 seed Franklin Regional, 3-1, in the WPIAL 3A Varsity Soccer Championships Saturday at Highmark Stadium.
The unbeaten Tigers stretched their winning streak to 22 games with the win and will look to extend it when PIAA tournament play begins. Moon will host Lampeter-Strasburg at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Moon had its hands full with the Panthers, who dropped to 14-4-2 entering the state tournament.
Franklin Regional had gained a reputation this season for being something of a giant killer, having eliminated No. 2 seed Thomas Jefferson in the quarterfinals Monday. Even going back a few years, the Panthers had proven to be a tough out, having reached the championship final four times in the last seven years, and winning back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.
As recently as a year ago, Franklin Regional proved to be trouble for Moon, having upset the Tigers in last year’s WPIAL quarterfinals.
The Panthers did indeed give the Tigers a scare Saturday, leveling the game 1-1 in the first half. But the Moon boys were undeterred and pushed on to score twice in the second half to win their seventh 3A title and second in the last three years.
The match started out in the Tigers’ favor, with Moon scoring early. The Tigers played around defenders near the Franklin penalty area, and from that play Luis Silva was able to score an early goal off of an assist from Zechariah Balbach, making it 1-0.
Moon, which had noticeably more support in the stands, then pushed on, and in the 15th minute Evan Thomas had a clear shot at goal, but it was saved by Noah Walker, the Panthers’ goalkeeper and captain.
Soon after, though, the match shifted, and the Panthers started pushing their possession up the field. Then, in the 21rst minute, Franklin Regional leveled the game. The Panthers’ Danny Christafano dribbled past a few Tigers down the right touchline, and crossed right onto the head of Joey Bayne, who headed home into the bottom left corner. The Panthers had pulled the game even at 1-1.
championship trophy.
Franklin Regional’s midfield continued to push upfield, but Moon’s midfield started to take back control toward the end of the first half. Tiger midfielders like Finnian Dengel started to control the space on the pitch better.
After the game, Dengel told the Gazette, “We started off really strong. We just played our game. We scored a heck of a goal from Luis, but then we had our defensive lapse. And then, it was just kind of a slugfest there for a bit.”
In the 31st minute, the ball popped up invitingly for Thomas, who volleyed a strike at goal along the ground. But Walker dove low to make the stop.
Then, with two minutes left in the half, the Tigers got a breakaway, and Dengel set up a ball for Silva, whose shot went just over the bar. The first half ended in a 1-1 tie.
Steadfast, it was the Panthers who started the second half swinging, needing Tiger goalkeeper William Guarino’s involvement twice in the first three minutes. In the 51st minute, Tiger Marc Haupt received a yellow card for knocking over Panther goalkeeper Walker after challenging for a ball.
Yet, in the 62nd minute, the Tigers pulled ahead once again when Thomas Evans crossed the ball into Aedan Costa, who coolly received it on his thigh and poked it home, making it 2-1 for the Tigers.
Then just 4 minutes later, the Tigers showed why they hadn’t lost a game yet this season. On a breakaway with a bouncing ball, senior striker Haupt, who leads the Tigers in goals per match at 1.2, maneuvered past several defenders. He used his upper body to fight off a central defender challenging for the ball and poked it under Walker to make it 3-1 for the Tigers.
As often happens in high intensity finals like these, pressure started to boil over a little on the Highmark pitch. Haupt had received a yellow for fouling Panther captain Walker, and he and Walker exchanged words a couple times afterward. Then in the 70th minute, Moon’s Stephen Carvajal Vargas was fouled upfield, and was so upset that he had to be restrained by his teammates. Vargas ultimately received a yellow card for his outburst.
However, that was the end of the trouble for the Tigers, and they ended the match with a two- goal lead. The frenzy of the players, staff and fans at the final whistle was ecstatic.
Moon’s senior midfielder Dengel, who is the Tigers’ leader for assists per game, said after the match, “The second half we started out really slow. Credit to them [Franklin Regional] — they played really hard.
“We just stuck through it, kept playing our game. That’s how we won it in the end.”
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