On the surface, its push for a second district title in three years came to an end in one fateful three-minute stretch.
The Port Allegany boys soccer team had mostly played even with league rival St. Marys, and that effort was reflected in a 1-1 score. Two Dutchman goals, however — a deflection after a corner kick save with 10:02 remaining and a penalty kick with 7:48 left — changed the dynamic entirely.
Vinicius Nunes had two markers, including the PK, and Cody Schaberl had the deflected game-winner to lead St. Marys to a 4-1 triumph in the District 9 Class AA championship on a 35-degree night Monday at Bradford High School.
With only one Class AA team eligible to advance, the Dutchmen will move onto the PIAA state playoffs, where they will play the No. 2 seed from District 10. Port Allegany (12-6) fell in the district title game for the second straight year after winning the Class A championship for the first time in 2016.
For as tough as that three-minute sequence was, however, the Gators’ chances had already taken a significant hit in the first half. With 6:43 left, leading scorer Noah Costa, who entered Monday with 19 goals, went down with a knee injury after he was taken out by a sliding St. Marys goalkeeper and never returned.
“When we had Noah in the game, it was an even game,” an emotional Port coach Aaron Clark said. “We each had pressure. The game changed once Noah went out with his knee injury. We became a little more one-dimensional offensively.
“Defensively, we were holding our own, and things sort of fell apart there at the end. We were pressing up numbers to try to generate some sort of attack. It doesn’t matter if you lose 3-1 or 2-1 at that point.”
In its first year under the “Port United” moniker, the Port Allegany-Smethport cooperative was symbolized by the forward duo of Howie Stuckey and Costa. Stuckey (18 goals coming in) was one of the top returning players from Port Allegany, Costa the new leading scorer from Smethport.
“Howie had a great year, but he and Noah worked as a tandem,” Clark said.
Never was that more evident than in the first few seconds of the Gators’ rubber match with St. Marys. After stealing the Dutchmen’s opening kick, Costa made a run up the left side of the field and sent in a cross to Stuckey, who finished the pass just 15 seconds in to give top-seeded Port Allegany a 1-0 lead.
The Dutchmen tied it with 28:55 left in the half on a bouncing ball that went over the head of Port goalkeeper Brandon Peterson. In the end, No. 3 St. Mary’s won the season series after the teams split their league games, with the Dutchmen taking a 4-3 decision and the Gators later pulling out a 2-1 overtime triumph.
“We tried not to change anything on our attack, but it did make us one-dimensional,” Clark said of the loss of Costa. “Justin (Gallup) and Javon (Styles), they worked hard to fill those minutes, and they had some positive touches on the ball, (it’s) just they weren’t Noah.”
A year earlier, the Gators fell to Brockway, 7-0, in the Class A final, but still made a second straight appearance in the state playoffs. Bumped up to Class AA as a result of the merger, they knew they would have to win the district championship to make a return trip again this year.
And though their season came to an end on Bradford’s field Monday, the co-op was a huge success, Clark said. Fitting was the fact that both Costa and Stuckey finished with 19 markers.
“We wouldn’t have been in this game if it wasn’t for the guys from Smethport,” said Clark, noting that the team’s five seniors all came over from the Hubbers and played significant minutes. “We were a talented team as it was; we would be dangerous against whoever we played, but we wouldn’t have been in this game.
“It definitely was a success. I hope that other aspiring soccer players in Smethport see us as a viable option. I know that they were low on numbers the last few years and I hope that the kids in Smethport see what their guys did in our program, and I hope they continue to come out.”
