By MATTHEW SHAWLEY
BERLIN — Among the most common clichés in sports is the “game of inches,” or the notion that the outcome of many contests can be reduced to a few inches, this way or that.
Unfortunately for the Conemaugh Township Indians, a few inches this way or that made all the difference in their 2-1 loss to York Catholic in the PIAA state soccer playoffs.
The Indians, champions in District 5 for the first time since 2004, fell victim to the game of inches on a few pivotal plays that swung the result in favor of the Fighting Irish.
The first of these plays occurred when York Catholic stretched the Indians’ defense out wide with a ball deep into the corner left of the Conemaugh Township goal. Josiah Schendel’s cross glanced off a Township defender’s arm just inside the penalty box, and that contact, though inadvertent, left the referee no option but to signal for a penalty shot.
Schendel took full advantage of the uncontested shot, burying a drive into the upper left corner of the goal, just past the outstretched Jusdan Griffith for the 1-0 advantage.
“We gave up the penalty kick early, which was very unfortunate, but those things happen,” said Township coach Chris Miller.
After the early setback, Conemaugh Township continued to battle while seeking the equalizer.
In the 24th minute, the Indians had their best opportunity to even the tally when Ryan Brown’s excellent open-field tackle opened up a counterattack.
Brown somehow maintained possession while tumbling forward, and the speedy senior’s run at the net drew a defender from across the field. Brown dished it to Brian Heinrich, unmarked in front of goal, but Heinrich’s shot was gobbled up by Irish goalie Kevin McLane.
“We did control the game, for the most part,” said Miller, “but we just couldn’t get it in the back of the net. We had a couple nice scoring chances, but their keeper made some big saves.”
Each side’s keeper stood tall through the remainder of the first half, and the Indians set out in the second half still in search of the tying goal.
Miller credited Griffith for keeping his team’s hopes alive.
“Jusdan Griffith had some game-saving dives on some of those shots.”
Griffith was inches away from another game-saver on what ended up as the game-winning goal.
After a long ball from an Irish midfielder initially failed to connect with striker Brendan Waterbury, the junior made a strong effort to wrestle control back.
Finding just enough space to turn and fire a shot, Waterbury’s drive was parried by Griffith, but the shot had enough pace to survive the deflection and float just a few inches inside the far post for a 2-0 Irish lead.
With just under 20 minutes left to play Heinrich lit the scoreboard for the Indians on a low drive from a tight angle that snuck past McLane.
That goal rallied the Conemaugh Township supporters, and gave new life to the tiring players in white, but the Irish held on the rest of the way.
“Our biggest thing was numbers on the bench. Obviously, we’re down,” Coach Miller said of his team’s injury problems that threatened to derail their season multiple times, “but these guys kept pushing all season long, through all the trials and tribulations.”
“At the end of the day, it was a great game, and we just got beat by a little better team.”
The leadership displayed by Township seniors Kyle Benson, Brown, Andrew Shaulis, and Heinrich, not just in this game, but throughout the course of the season left an impression on Miller.
“I’m real proud of them putting Township back on the map. I’m going to miss our seniors. We only had four of them, but they were four great leaders. Each one of them brought something different to the team. We have a pretty young team, so hopefully we can bounce back and learn from this trip to the state playoffs.”
