Northwestern Lehigh, Parkland win titles
Northwestern Lehigh seniors Cayden Fitch and Josh Zellner weren’t about to let what occurred in last month’s Colonial League final take place in Thursday’s District 11 Class 2A championship.
“Ever since losing the Colonial League championship, our eyes have been set on this game,” Fitch said. “You don’t go undefeated in the regular season to not win anything in the postseason.”
“I think we went into our league final,” Zellner said, “and we got humbled a little bit.”
The second-seeded Tigers rallied from a 1-0 deficit in the district’s 2A final to pull out a 2-1 decision over No. 5 Allentown Central Catholic in the nightcap of a doubleheader played at Emmaus’ Memorial Field.
Fitch scored the equalizer with 12:26 remaining and Zellner was credited with the winner with 9:49 left.
Coach Nathan Hunsicker’s Tigers (22-1) advance to next week’s PIAA tournament to play the District 12 runner-up at a site and time to be determined. Northwestern’s District 11 title was its fourth in a row.
Central Catholic (14-8) also moves on to the state playoffs. The Vikings will meet the District 12 champ.
“For our program, all the players, our coaches, for our school,” Fitch said, “I’m so happy for everybody. I’m proud of what we did tonight.”
Central Catholic made sure the Tigers had to work hard for their fourth straight.
After a scoreless first half, coach Taylor Holko’s Vikings broke through with 32:46 remaining when senior Daniel Patruno converted a penalty kick. (Officials ruled a hand-ball in the box.)
They held that advantage until Fitch, who usually sets up his teammates, drew a foul and connected on a free kick.
“Coach Hunsicker’s No. 1 thing at halftime was to stay composed,” Fitch said. “If you concede, you’ve got to move on and find that next goal. We had to remain focused and we were lucky to bury two into the back of the goal.”
The decisive tally was an own-goal that deflected off a Central Catholic defender and past goalkeeper Braden Brislin.
“Dart DeLillo picked up the ball on the wing,” said Zellner, who was credited with the score, “and I was on the back post and I made a front-post run past the goalie. It nipped off my shoulder and it went off one of their players and into the net. It was huge.”
“That’s how I saw it,” Holko said of the own-goal. “It’s a bummer.
“I told our guys going in that this might be the best team we’ve played all year. Northwestern is fast and they’re relentless. I liked how we adapted to their speed.
We created a fair number of chances we just weren’t on-target often enough.
Both teams played well on defense against explosive offenses.
Northwestern held Eastern Pennsylvania Conference MVP Maksym Komperda, Central Catholic’s No. 1 career goal-scorer, out of the scoring column. Central Catholic shut down the Tigers’ top scorer, junior Matt Johnson.
With time running out, Central Catholic fired off one last quality attempt.
“Our defense was fantastic,” Zellner said. “I’ve got to shout-out Nick Crum, who at the end of the game made a goal-line saving clearance with a couple of seconds left. That was absolutely huge.”
And now, both teams prepare for the state playoffs. Both teams return to action on Tuesday.
“We’re excited we get the opportunity to play again,” Holko said. “This hurts but we get another chance to win a game.”