Fleetwood’s season ends in loss to Northern
DILLSBURG » Fleetwood senior midfielder Adam Follweiler tried to look for the silver lining.
After Northern York defeated visiting Fleetwood 2-0 Wednesday night in the District 3 Class 3A boys soccer championship game, Follweiler knew it was there. He just couldn’t see it yet.
“We had a pretty good career,” Follweiler said speaking for the 10 Fleetwood seniors. “It stinks in the moment but when everybody looks back at it I think we all had a really good career.”
The Tigers won last year’s District 3 Class 2A championship and the 2018 PIAA Class 2A title before moving up a class this season.
The fifth-seeded Tigers (13- 4) knocked off No. 1 seed Susquehannock Saturday in the District 3 semifinals but couldn’t duplicate that effort against the third- seeded Polar Bears (17-0-1).
Ashton Davis scored a goal in each half for Northern, which finished with a 10-2 advantage in shots on goal. Fleetwood senior goalie Wes Seaman made eight saves to keep the Tigers in it.
Davis scored with just under six minutes left in the first half to break a scoreless tie. Fleetwood was unable to stage an attack as it struggled to adjust to playing on a grass field.
“The first half they were all over us,” said Fleetwood coach Keith Schlegel. “We didn’t start playing soccer early enough.”
The Tigers had their best scoring chance early in the second half when Hunter Smith tried to lob the ball over Northern goalie Josh Hoffman. But the ball hit the crossbar and bounced away from the goal.
Minutes later, Davis scored his second goal with 30 minutes to play to give the Polar Bears a 2-0 lead.
“We came out really slow,” Follweiler said. “They jumped up on us early. I thought we started coming back in the second half but it was too late.”
The second championship loss in 11 days ended the season for the Tigers since only the district champion will advance to the PIAA Tournament during the coronavirus pandemic.
Fleetwood lost to backyard rival Oley Valley in the Berks championship game on Oct. 31.
“We had a great season,” Schlegel said. “We lost to two really good teams. I’m disappointed but I’m not upset.”