Trojans pick up key win at Mars
North Catholic prevails in OT
In previous years, there was no chance a team would even score two goals against Mars in a match, much less in a half.
Even rarer would have been to pop two past the Planets netminder in a key section match and then lose in overtime.
But Mars has struggled a bit this season and North Catholic was ready to take full advantage.
Trailing by two midway through the second half, Ryan Shantz and Brody Dunn scored for the Trojans to send it to overtime. It was there that senior midfielder Marcus Kurtz chipped a contested shot into the Mars net to give North Catholic (4-4-2, 4-3-2) a 3-2 victory on the Planets ( 7- 6- 0, 6- 3- 0) home field.
Mars had not lost six matches in a season since it went 10-6-2 in 2017.
North Catholic played in the Class 2A championship game last year.
Other scores
• Franklin Regional forward Danny Christafano, who scored the game-winner against then- No. 1 Plum on Tuesday, lofted a corner kick for a Colton Hudson header with just under 22 minutes remaining in regulation to give the Class 3A No. 4 Panthers (9-3-0, 9-1-0) a 1-0 victory against Section 4 rival Penn-Trafford (6-7-1, 5-4-1). Franklin Regional has notched six consecutive shutouts.
• Fox Chapel has languished in around third or fourth place in Section 1 for most of the season, but the Class 4A No. 4 Foxes only losses are to undefeated Seneca Valley. They showed how formidable they can be against PineRichland (8-2-1, 6-2-1) as seniors John Paul Brock, Ari Johnson and Colin Westerberg each scored in a 3-0 win over No. 3 PineRichland (7-2-2, 6-2-2).
• Greensburg Central Catholic ( 11- 1- 0, 8- 0- 0) continues to put the ball in the net at a torrid pace. The Class 1A No. 2 Centurions, led by three goals from senior forward Carlo Denis, scored in doubledigits for the fourth time in their last five matches with an 11-0 romp over Ligonier Valley (2-9-1, 1-60). They have 107 goals on the season.
• Ryan Merrick had the hat trick and Anthony D’Ippolito posted the shutout to help Eden Christian Academy (8-2-0, 7-1-0) to a 7-0 win against Neshannock (2-9-1, 0-7-1) in their Class 1A Section 1 match.
• Jack Billik scored three goals and goalkeeper Nick Cherry posted his seventh shutout in as many matches against Section 4 opponents as Class 1A No. 4 Seton LaSalle ( 8- 3- 0, 7- 0- 0) rolled to a 6-0 win over Brentwood (3-7-0, 1-6-0).
• Just two days after Butler ( 8- 3- 2, 4- 3- 2) pushed Seneca Valley to the brink of its first loss to a WPIAL team in more than two years, the Golden Tornado proved it wasn’t a fluke. Cody Lubinsky scored the only goal of the game in double-overtime and Drew Knight posted the 1-0 shutout over North Allegheny (7-51, 5-5-0) to move within a point of the fourth-place Tigers in Class 4A Section 1.