Making history

Downie’s OT goal gives Penns Valley first-ever crown

Gordon Brunskill

- gbrunski@centredaily.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Twice Penns Valley had gotten to this point in the season, and twice the Rams hit a road block.

CDT/Christopher Weddle

Penns Valley's McCade Lynch moves the ball against Richland's Andrew Ahlers at Hollidaysburg Junior High School on Thursday, November 5, 2009. CDT/Christopher Weddle

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The third try, in the third period, finally produced the moment they were waiting to experience.

John Downie drilled the ball into the back of the net less than a minute into overtime for the night’s only goal in a 1-0 victory over Richland in the District 6 Class A boys’ soccer championship game at Hollidaysburg’s Tiger Stadium.

“We’ve been coming here year after year after year and going home disappointed,” head coach Scott Case said. “It’s nice to get the victory.”

The season with a school-record for wins (17-2-1) continues Tuesday with a first-round date in the PIAA tournament against either Greensburg Central Catholic or Springdale, who play Saturday afternoon for the District 7 championship. Tuesday’s game will be played at a site to be announced somewhere in the Pittsburgh area.

“It feels amazing,” said Nate Sweeley, who made eight saves for the shutout. “This is the first time our school’s gone to states and it feels good to be the goalkeeper for it. We really earned it.”

While some of his players were heartbroken, even Richland head coach Dan Sichak showed a little pride on his face for Penns Valley’s accomplishment. Richland used late goals to win 2-0 in last year’s title game between the two.

“We’ve been there,” Sichak said. “I know what Scott’s going through over there.”

The goal was almost startling, given how Richland had dominated play for much of the second half, but all it took was one quick counterattack.

Evan Gover started the sequence near midfield, sending the ball ahead to Tyler Silks, who broke to his left to get some space from a defender and boot the ball toward keeper Greg Sichak.

The low shot at a tight angle was easily blocked, but Sichak could not control the rebound.

“Evan gave a great ball to Silks and he took it down the line far side,” Downie said. “I was praying down there, hoping the keeper wouldn’t be able to get it.”

The ball dribbled right to the feet of Downie just a few yards away from a wide-open net for one of the easiest — yet toughest — goals of his life.

“I almost collapsed right there I was so nervous,” Downie said. “When I put that in, it was crazy.”

Penns Valley players and fans had to wonder if such an outcome would be possible late in regulation, with the ball practically tethered to their defensive end. Richland held an 11-4 shooting advantage in the second half, and most of those Penns Valley shots were early in the period.

“As we dragged on to minute-60, minute-70 we were really starting to get into trouble,” Case said. “I felt that perhaps we didn’t have enough stamina to make this happen and we seemed to get quite sloppy with the ball. We weren’t keeping the ball for ourselves.”

How close did the defending champion Rams get to goals? Freshman Bobby Colvin had a breakaway and ripped off a shot that sailed wide. Then Nick Popovnak’s free kick from 25 yards away was redirected by Darin Gipe barely wide. Then Dylan Horne was part of two different breaks a little later in the half, and both of those were denied.

“We had opportunities and we didn’t capitalize,” Dan Sichak said. “Penns Valley played a heck of a nice game offensively, defensively. They have some big-time players.”

“There was a lot of pressure,” Sweeley said. “I just kept looking at the clock.”

There were all those shots and possessions, but just four reached the hands of Sweeley in the second half thanks to the defense, anchored by Ben Eberly and Derek Wasson, holding shape in front of him.

“They just held strong,” Sweeley said. “We had a lot of good communication in this game. We held strong.”

Meanwhile, Penns Valley had only one really good scoring chance in the second half, with Gover lofting the ball ahead to Downie one-on-one with the keeper, but the shot was lined right into Greg Sichak’s stomach.

Both coaches knew, the way each was playing defense, that a fluke play would probably end the night.

“That was what we told the guys at the end of regulation,” Dan Sichak said, “‘Keep the ball down there, keep the ball down there, and you’ve got to keep popping the ball, popping the ball, popping the ball. Guys are getting tired, it’s getting cold. Look for pinball action and it was going to be tough for the goalkeeper to hold onto the ball.’ Unfortunately, it was our goalkeeper who played a great game.”

Penns Valley, playing with the wind to its back in the second half, also got the break of having that tailwind for the first overtime, aiding in that winning rush.

“We were hoping for it,” Case said. “It seemed like the wind was not helping us in the second half. That mid-20 or 30 minutes we were on our heels quite badly.”

It set the stage for the junior Downie, who ended the Rams’ wait for a district title.

“I’m so glad I was able to do that for the team,” Downie said. “They really deserved it — all the seniors do.”