Season of progress lands Delco Christian in title game
WEST NORRITON » Strong as Cody Dill’s belief was, he knew the hill to climb was steep.
The senior understood his Delco Christian team to be improving rapidly as the season progressed. He grasped that qualifying for the PIAA tournament for the first time in program history would represent a monumental achievement.
Beyond that … well, it would require vanquishing Faith Christian, a two-time PIAA finalist, a team that went unbeaten in the regular season, that outscored opponents 153-5 in its first 19 wins, that trounced Delco Christian, 6-0, back in September.
Dill had his doubts, but it was hardly a crisis of — if you’ll excuse the pun — faith.
“I never thought we’d make it this far,” Dill said Tuesday night, through the shreds of a voice shouted hoarse. “I knew we had a good team.”
The Knights will get a chance to see if they are a state championship team Saturday, when they venture to Mechanicsburg to take on District 7’s Charleroi in the PIAA Class A final. The game at Eagle View Middle School (adjacent to Cumberland Valley High) kicks off at 1 p.m.
DCCS (16-3-4) found its way there through an impressive regular season, which included wins over Central League foes Springfield and Marple Newtown. Its only other loss came to Perkiomen Valley, the second seed in the District 1 Class 4A tournament.
States had always eluded the Knights. Faith and Dock Mennonite are the district’s perennial powers. The Knights always seemed to be the third-best team when two went to states. The years they were second-best fell inconveniently in years where only the district champ advanced.
But opportunity and ability met this year, the second-seeded Knights winning a 1-0 game in the district semifinal over Calvary Christian, a team they had tied in the regular season. If that wasn’t a sign of progress, then a 3-2 loss to Faith in the district final, one in which the Knights led and became the first team to score against the Lions in 12 games, certainly was.
“Everybody continues to grow in their game and continues to develop,” Dill said. “I have so much faith in the guys.”
Getting another shot at Faith would require mettle on the road in states, and DCCS has emerged better for those battles. The Knights’ states opener was a wild one, a 3-3 draw with District 3 champ Kutztown that the Knights won in penalty kicks. A 2-0 win over Old Forge in the quarterfinals, behind goals from Cortez Cardone and a Dill penalty, brought them back into Faith’s orbit.
The gameplan by coach Robert Atkins was well honed by that point. The Knights would concede possession and field position to Faith, sitting deep enough to cut out space for Faith’s speedy forwards to run in behind but not too deep to give midfielders free service. They would clog the spaces, with Dill, normally pulling the strings of the attack from central midfielder, directing the backline. They would try to counter, relying on the speed of Cardone and the hold-up play of forward Griffin Schmitt.
“Our game was to hold them, just pack it back because they are an offensive masterclass,” Schmitt said. “Everything they do, they just get goals, and we held them from doing that.”
The tactics meant Faith dominated the game but didn’t generate a ton of dangerous chances early. It went up seven minutes into the second half via Colin Moyer, and Delco Christian needed a recuse with 79 seconds left on the clock, Cardone roofing a loose ball in the six-yard box that found him.
From that point on, Delco Christian may not have dictated play, but it did direct tactics. Knowing how they
had performed in PKs at Kutztown and with confidence in goalie Jake Matthews, the prudent play was to hold on for penalties.
“The whole mindset was to get the tie and get it to PKs,” Cardone said. “And that’s exactly what happened. We weren’t expecting to win because we knew Faith’s reputation. They are a very tough team and undefeated. We played them twice and lost. But, wow, what an outcome. It’s such a great win.”
“We went to PKs the first game against Kutztown, and I just knew the guys were going to make their PKs,” Dill said. “I have a lot of faith in our keeper, and I knew we were going to finish it.”
Spot kicks went Delco
Christian’s way. Four of their five shooters converted, led by Dill. Matthews made the save he needed to in the fourth round, coupled with a Faith miss in the opening round that had them behind throughout. Schmitt made no mistake with the final kick, a conversion that exorcised, among other things, a loss to Faith in the 2020 district final when he and his fellow seniors were freshmen.
It was a fitting moment to mark the progress that has Delco Christian 80 minutes from a state title.
“It’s all grown to this,” Schmitt said. “It’s amazing. It all started when we were freshmen. We lost in the district finals, now we are here in states and we’re going to win it all.”