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PIAA Class 4A championship: Seneca Valley Raiders roll to 6-0 win over Lower Merion

PIAA Class 4A championship: Seneca Valley Raiders roll to 6-0 win over Lower Merion

Seneca Valley had been in the last two state championship matches, but there was something the team was unable to do in either of its first two appearances.

Neither time did the Raiders score a first half goal.

When they ended the pre-halftime drought, it turned into a veritable flood.

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Seneca Valley junior Cole Kamarec started it off with a pair of goals less than 16 minutes into the match. Max Marcotte added another at 31:39 and Connor Oros capped the onslaught 3.7 seconds prior to the intermission to lead the Raiders (22-1-1) to a 6-0 win over District 1 champion Lower Merion (23-2-0) in the PIAA Class 4A championship match at Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg.

Aliquippa’s Marques Council looks to pitch to pitch the ball during the third quarter against McKeesport during the Class 4A WPIAL football semifinal on Friday at Canon-McMillian Stadium in Canonsburg. The final score was Aliquippa 42, McKeesport 7.  (Arturo Fernandez/Post-Gazette)
High school sports results from November 18, 2022, playoff schedule

“You always want your team to play their best game in the championship game,” Seneca Valley coach George Williams said. “Our team did it times-10. Every player didn’t just step up their game, they catapulted their game.”

It is the largest goal differential in a boys state championship match in the highest classification since Strath Haven defeated North Allegheny 6-0 in 1996 and the most goals since Coughlin defeated Cathedral Prep, 9-5, in overtime – prior to golden goals – in 1997.

In addition to the four first half goals Gavin Loya, who had a pair of assists, added a second-half tally at 6:39. Evan Howard capped the scoring at 19:10 and all-state forward Beaux Lizewski chpped in three helpers.

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“We as coaches were kind of in shock ourselves,” Williams said. “We knew what a talented team that Lower Merion has and that have some players that are outstanding.”

It is the second state title for the Raiders in the last three seasons. They won the title in 2020 with a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Neshaminy and lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Conestoga last season.

But the biggest motivation wasn’t the loss to Conestoga. That was avenged in the semifinals.

No, it was the loss to Pine-Richland in the WPIAL championship two weeks ago that left the Raiders stunned as they walked off the field at Highmark Stadium.

“You have to give credit to Pine-Richland. They executed a gameplan that totally disrupted what we were trying to do,” Williams said. “That absolutely became a great motivator for us to continue and try to go 4-0 from there.”

When the match against Lower Merion began, though, it certainly didn’t look like it would end up being a Seneca Valley romp. In fact, it appeared the Raiders were going to have to start out in a quick hole.

Just 2:41 into the match, Lower Merion attacker Drew Davis got a rush though the box and was taken down by Seneca Valley goalkeeper Ryan Krumenacker, who was immediately called for the foul. That gave the Aces the first real scoring chance as they were awarded a penalty kick.

Senior Sam Nyenka got the call from the Lower Merion coaches and went low to the right of center with the shot. But Krumenacker guessed right and smothered the shot, thwarting the Aces chance to open the scoring.

“That save started everything,” Williams said. “It took a moment that could have cut us at the knees and totally turned everything around. It gave us such a shot of confidence that we were able to move forward from that.”

Lower Merion still controlled the attack for another couple of minutes, but Seneca Valley was just getting started.

On their first solid attack, the Raiders drew first blood when Lizewski moved a loose ball in the box forward to Kamarec. Though he wasn’t really positioned well to conventionally attack the pass, he swung his right leg in a left-to-right motion almost like a backhand.

It looked awkward, but he got enough on it to get the shot past Lower Merion goalkeeper Crosby Johnson to put the Raiders on top, 1-0, 9:32 into the match.

Kamarec gave Seneca Valley some insurance a few minutes later. He took a short pass in the box from Loya, squeezed between two Lower Merion defenders and rolled a shot through Johnson on the short side inside the left post for his second of the match for a 2-0 lead at 15:40.

From there, the Raiders just poured it on until the clock ran out before they hoisted the championship trophy for the second time.

“It was just humbling to watch our team play,” Williams said. “I’m so proud of them.”

First Published: November 20, 2022, 3:14 a.m.

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