Bradford used a three-goal first half to power past Port Allegany 4-1 at Parkway Field in a non-league game on Wednesday in each team’s regular season finale.
For Bradford (13-5), it was a chance to pick up some additional ratings points to hopefully secure a first-round bye in the District 9 playoffs
“This game might come into importance when the final rankings come into play,” Bradford head coach Wes Lohrman said. “We’re trying to get that No. 1 seed in the District, and hopefully the win today gave us enough points to get there.”
Meanwhile, for Port Allegany (12-4), it was a chance to face a bigger, better opponent to gear up for the Gators’ own playoff journey.
“We love playing Bradford in the last game of the regular season,” Port A head coach Aaron Clark said. “It gives us a quality opponent that can toughen us up and get us ready for the postseason.”
The Owls raced out to a 3-0 lead within the game’s first 20 minutes, as Isaiah Pingie, Ryan Miller and Ian Grady each scored for the Owls.
Pingie scored on an assist by Ian Grady, who put a ball into the box with a pass over the top. Pingie corralled it and punched it into the left side of the net for a 1-0 Owl lead at the 36:10 mark.
Seven minutes later, Miller struck after Port Allegany goalkeeper Ty Guilds made an initial save, but couldn’t keep a handle on it. Miller knocked in the rebound to double the Bradford advantage.
Then, with 23:42 left in the half, Ian Grady headed in a corner kick off the foot of Brennan Grady to put the Owls up 3-0.
In the second half, Grady scored on a shot that went through Guilds’ hands to put BAHS up 4-0.
Later on, with 14:05 remaining in the game, Port A’s Simon Burleson put the Gators on the board with a high-arcing shot that curled in under the top right post.
“Simon’s having himself a special season. He’s done really, really well,” Clark said. “We told the players that we would probably only get a handful of opportunities (today), so take advantage of them… It was great to get one in.”
The game was Bradford’s senior night, which saw 16 Owls honored for their services after the game.
Two seniors, Owen Kane and Colton Swanson, were back in action after missing parts of the season with injuries. Swanson, the team’s leading scorer in 2018, missed an especially large chunk of the year with a hip injury suffered back on Sept. 10 against Cathedral Prep.
“It’s good to get those guys back, especially at this time of the year,” Lohrman said. “We’re excited to have our roster coming back to full health at exactly the right time.”
Each team will now venture into the District 9 playoffs, Bradford in Class AAA and Port Allegany in Class AA.
Both teams liked what they took away from the contest.
“We’ve really been working on our ball movement… The passing was good, and I was pleased with what I saw,” Lohrman said. “I was glad with how everybody played in the positions they played in.”
The Owls are done tinkering with lineups now after using different combinations in recent weeks, according to Lohrman, and are simply fine-tuning aspects of the game moving forward.
“At this point, it’s pretty clear to me what group of players will take us through and get us into winning situations,” Lohrman said. “We’ve consistently been preaching (that) to increase ball movement, our ball work has to be solid. Other than that, we’ll let (the players) go out and have fun.”
The Gators used the game as a chance to perfect a new formation they recently put into use.
“We switched to a new formation, and this was the first opportunity to use it against a top-notch opponent,” Clark said. “We played Brockway and did well with it, but Bradford is better than Brockway. It was good to see the formation against a team like Bradford.”
The District 9 soccer playoffs begin next week.
