Bears blank Palmyra to reach state semis
BERNVILLE >> The Boyertown boys soccer team took another step further than any other in program history Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 win over Palmyra in a PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal at Tulpehocken High School.
Dimitri Randjelovic had a goal and an assist and Beckett Wenger and Matt Selders also scored for the Bears (22-2-2), who had never even won a District 1 contest before this season. Boyertown will face Central Bucks West, a 1-0 winner over Mt. Lebanon, in a Tuesday state semifinal at a time and place to be determined.
“These kids are doing well for themselves,” said Boyertown coach Mark Chambers. “You can’t beat being one of four teams left.”
“It feels amazing,” said Randjelovic. “Such team effort out there.”
The District 1 runner-up Bears got on the board four minutes into the match when Nick Willson crossed a pass to Randjelovic for a medium-range blast into the left corner.
Palmyra (18-3-2), the fourth-place team from District 3, possessed the ball in the midfield much of the rest of the half, but Bear goalkeeper Mason Kurtz (9 saves) made four steps to maintain the slim margin.
“I think the first half was book-ended by decent play,” Chambers said of his team’s effort. “They (the Cougars) possessed through the midfield. We told them to just keep your shape, maintain your marks.”
“We kept them locked down in the midfield,” said junior Randjelovic. “Especially their better players, who were in the midfield.”
The Bears scored again eight minutes into the second half when Randjelovic pushed a pass to Beckett Wenger for a spinning shot and score.
The Cougars had a chance to get close midway through the second half when Joshua Mark found open space near the top of the box for a hard shot, but Kurtz was right there to make the save. Palmyra had another good opportunity not too long after that when a shot that was just wide to the left of the goal was deflected over the goal line. But Kurtz came through with another save on a shot by Nick Carroll.
The Bears wrapped it up when Selders scored off a pass from Landon Wenger with 9:41 to go.
“We possessed pretty well,” said Randjelovic, who nearly scored again on a shot that ricocheted off the right post and crossbar. “Getting it to Nick (Willson), who created a lot of chances.”
“We got back to how we wanted to play,” said Chambers. “Possession in the midfield, get dangerous up front. We definitely created some chances today. Palmyra is a very good team.”
Palmyra had the only two corner kicks on the afternoon and put more shots on goal than the Bears. But most of those tries by the Cougars were handled easily by Kurtz.
Next, the Bears will face a CB West team that finished fifth in District 1, losing 2-1 in the quarterfinals to Lower Merion, which then fell 1-0 to Boyertown in the semifinals.
Big games are now nothing new for the Bears, who captured the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship, won a District 1 match for the first time and qualified for state play for the first time since 1996 when they were a member of District 3.
“Every game in the playoffs is a big game for us,” Chambers added. “We talked about it in practice. We treat them just like any other game.”
Boyertown 4, Whitehall 3
BUCKTOWN >> Matt Kerr missed most of Boyertown’s district title game on Saturday with an injured ankle.
He wasn’t expected to play in Tuesday’s PIAA Class 4A opener against Whitehall either.
But then again, a lot of unexpected things happened during the course of the Bears’ thrilling 4-3 win at Owen J. Roberts High School on Tuesday to advance to the state quarterfinals. The defensiveminded Bears showed the ability to prevail in a shootout, and the junior Kerr was in the middle of the comeback effort.
Entering around the 18-minute mark in the second half with his side trailing 3-2, it wouldn’t take Kerr long to make an impact, finishing a cross from Nick Willson with 12:54 to play to bring the Bears level.
Senior Landon Wenger took it from there, finding a loose ball on a scramble in front of the Whitehall goal and beating keeper Justin Mattison for the winning margin with 9:31 to play.
But it was hard to argue that Kerr’s ability to take the field gave the Bears a boost after a somewhat stunning Whitehall comeback in the early part of the second half.
“Questionable — that’s a good word to describe (Kerr’s status),” agreed Boyertown coach Mark Chambers. “I wasn’t expecting to have him at all, and I hoped we wouldn’t need him. But he fought through the discomfort, got us the tying goal. I just hope we’re going to have him back the rest of the way.”
Not surprisingly, Kerr was riding high after the exciting finish.
“Right now, I feel great,” he said. “I think I’ll be fine by Saturday.”
Kerr originally sprained an ankle during the District 1 semifinal with Lower Merion, then aggravated the injury in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to North Penn for the district championship. He left the contest two minutes in, and was not expected to play Tuesday. And for the first 60 minutes, he didn’t.
“It wasn’t a great idea (to try to play Saturday),” Kerr admitted. “I wasn’t going to play today either, but when they needed me, I gave it a shot.”
The frantic finish was the ideal ending to a game filled with sudden strikes, lead changes, and intensity worthy of the stage of the state tournament. Kerr’s entry into the game was a surprise, but so was the wide-open, high-scoring nature of the contest.
Wenger connected with younger brother Beckett at the back post for a volley past Whitehall’s Mattison and a 1-0 lead early on, and the Bears threatened to run away with the game early before Mattison tipped a header over the crossbar just three minutes later.
From there, the seesaw ride began as the Zephyrs’ Kresstoph Whittick established himself as the contest’s most dangerous player. An early opportunity sailed wide off his left foot, but Whittick would equalize in the 27th minute, taking a midfield turnover through the Boyertown defense and beating Mason Kurtz low.
Boyertown senior Willson would send his side into the half with a 2-1 advantage, taking a bouncing ball just above the 18 and rocketing it high into the net with five minutes to play in the first half.
But that lead wouldn’t last, as Whitehall junior Jacob Gier took advantage of some confusion on Boyertown’s back end to even the game for a second time just seven minutes after halftime at 2.
Whittick, who created countless opportunities throughout the contest, made another one count at 19:09, whisking a rolling ball past Kurtz from about 30 yards away for a 3-2 advantage — Whitehall’s first of the game.
That was when Kerr would enter and turn the game around. Boyertown nearly equalized immediately, as Kerr’s cross just missed a finishing touch from Drew Benning. But four minutes later, Kerr would put himself on the right end of Willson’s low cross to bring Boyertown even, setting the stage for Wenger’s short header to put Boyertown in front to stay, 4-3.
“The best players forget their mistakes,” said Wenger. “We needed to get some of those early moments out of our heads, and in the end it worked out pretty well.”