Franklin Regional earns first crown
Panthers blank West Allegheny, 1-0; defense holds firm against late rallies
Franklin Regional claimed the WPIAL Class 3A title with a 1-0 triumph against West Allegheny Thursday night at Highmark Stadium.
It’s tough to pin down exactly how the Panthers did it. Was it the timely firsthalf goal by freshman Anthony DiFalco? Or the impenetrable defense that earned yet another shutout? Or was it a ragged old hat that brought good luck?
No matter what did the trick, Franklin Regional fans were flipping their lids over the first WPIAL boys soccer title in school history.
Coach Rand Hudson got the team fired up when he put on a beat-up and tornapart hat from his days as a travel coach when his players were younger. They used to ask Hudson when he would finally get rid of that old hat. He told them he was hanging on to it until they won a WPIAL championship.
“I put it on in the locker room and their eyes got big and they were like, ‘ You still have that?’” Hudson said. “It was up on my shelf. It’s been waiting.”
DiFalco scored in the 33rd minute when he took a pass from Auston Kranick and lifted a shot past West Allegheny goalie Braden Wurst.
The Panthers (18-0-1) were able to control the action for most of the game, but West Allegheny (19-2) put the pressure on late with several attempts on the goal. The Franklin Regional defense, which has 14 shutouts and has allowed only five goals this season, never budged.
The closest call came with 3:13 remaining. A free kick by Caleb Miller bounced into the box before Panthers goalie Jeremy Lucas scooped it up.
“You’re not going to score 13 goals in the WPIAL championship,” said West Allegheny coach Kevin Amos. “You have to take advantage of your opportunities when they come.”
West Allegheny also lost 1-0 in last year’s final to Montour.
As the Indians pushed the pace at the end, Franklin Regional was adjusting on the fly in a high-speed game of chess. Hudson dropped a fourth player back to staunch the Indians offense and it worked. The Panthers had not had to use the formation much this season, but they practiced it anyway. It paid off big in the final.
“We put four guys back, instead of three, which we had rehearsed for such an occasion,” Hudson said. “Since they were coming at us, we needed to slow them down, and we did.”