High School Soccer: Rockets win D-10 title

By Patrick Connelly/Sports Editor

Who says Slippery Rock doesn’t have a football team that can hang tough with some of the best in the state?

And in the case of Saturday’s boys District 10 Class AA Championship tilt, emerge as the victors when all is decided?

While ‘football’ in the United States may not have the same connotation it does in the rest of the world, somebody apparently forgot to tell that to the Rockets and Harbor Creek who did battle in as physical a soccer game as they come before Slippery Rock won the grudge match in a shootout.

“We’ve played them before, We know how they play. They know how we play…It was an unbelievable match,” Rockets mentor Anthony Buzzard said after waching his players take a few victory laps around the field at General McLane, complete with the District 10 Championship Trophy hoisted above their heads.

A back-and-forth match early on turned into one in favor of Harbor Creek with 5:51 left in the first half as Huskies junior forward Alex Tischenko scored off an assist by midfielder Tyler Osbourne.

Goalkeeper Tyler Little was hurt on the play and backup Cody Prelec took his spot.

The desperate Rockets found an answer about four minutes later as senior Dan Jeon got a penalty kick past Josh Richardson to tie the game just before haltime.

Both teams had plenty of scoring chances in the second half, but neither could seem to find the back of the net.

As Little returned in goal for the Rockets when the half began, he knocked down his first save since being injured at about the 26:00 mark, preventing a score by Harbor Creek’s Carter Tyzinki who had taken the ball the length of the field.

Tyzinski’s miss setup a Little punt and a pass by a Rockets midfielder to Devan Hribal in front of the net, but his shot missed over the goal and throuigh the football uprights.

Another scoring opportunity for the Rockets was thwarted at about the 20 minute mark when a shot by Mike Magilocca off a Jeon corner kick missed to the left of the goal.

A shot about a minute later by Slippery Rock’s Braden Sloan sailed over the goal, too, and another by Ethan Bryan was trapped by Richardson.

The Rockets couldn’t get anything going on a free kick a few minutes later and Little stopped another Harbor Creek shot at the 13:35 mark.

As 9:25, a pass from Slippery Rock’s Jack Cravener to Scott Dempsey was headed by Dempsey over the goal.

The biggest defensive play of the second half for the Rockets came with about 5è minutes left in the half when Bryan stopped a Harbor Creek shot that slipped past Little, preventing the go-ahead goal for the Huskies.

When regulation ended in the same 1-1 tie, the two teams battled through two 15-minute scoreless sudden death overtime periods before Little and Richardson prepared for the shootout.

Tyzinski struck first for Harbor Creek, followed by another goal by Ryan Hyatt to knot the shootout at 1-1.

Little then dove to his knees to block a shot by Harbor Creek’s Scott Campbell before Sloan found the back of the net for another Rocket goal.

Another save by Little on another fall to the knees prevented a score by Zach Shumaker of the Huskies. Bryan fired right back for the third straight Slippery Rock goal pash Richardson.

A miss by Harbor Creek’s Osborne clinched the shootout, match and District 10 title for the Rockets.

The game just had everything, Buzzard added. “Two great teams going at it…1-1…penalty kicks…you can’t ask for much more drama or excitement in a match than that.”

Buzzard said the very physical play by both squads was no surprise to him as he came to expect it after a game earlier this season with Harbor Creek.

One of the more impressive things about the Rockets in the ability of every player outside the goal to flat-out get in the way of anything their opponent tries.

“That’s just their style of play,” Buzzard said. “They’ve been great at it all year long.”

Even with the loss, the Huskies still advanced to the PIAA playoffs, which began Tuesday as the Rockets traveled to General McLane again for a game with the WPIAL’s West Allegheny.

Information from that match will be included in Saturday’s edition of The Allied News.

Text Only