Bentworth ready for a battle in state final
Bentworth knows it will be in for a brutal match against Lancaster Mennonite this afternoon in the PIAA Class A boys soccer championship at Eagle View Middle School's soccer complex in Mechanicsburg.
The Bearcats will also be without senior defender Gaige Davenport, who suffered an ankle injury with 18:27 remaining in the second half of the Bearcats' win over McConnellsburg in Tuesday's state semifinal.
Despite playing a solid team and being down a starter, Bentworth coach Nick Malarbi is confident his club will be ready to go when the first whistle blows at 4 p.m.
"They beat Camp Hill, who is traditionally a solid program, and even though it was a little tougher to find information about them online, they are good," Malarbi said. "But, if they got this far, why would they not be good? They have seen them play a similar and a little different formation than us, which usually depends on the opponent and how the game is going."
Malarbi had a feeling following Tuesday's semifinal that Davenport would have needed a quick recovery to play in today's final.
"We had a feeling that he probably wasn't going to be able to play in the finals," Malarbi said. "Luckily, we have some guys that have playoff experience, and we look at some more film and make a determination on how we are going to rotate out of that."
The Bearcats (22-0-0) will be playing in the state final for the first time in program history. They made history last season in qualifying for the state semifinals, but suffered a 2-1 setback to then section-rival Charleroi. The Cougars moved up to Class 2A this season and Bentworth won its second-straight WPIAL Class A championship in a penalty-kick shootout over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The Bearcats edged Charleroi, 3-2, in overtime last season to win their first district title.
Bentworth won its first two matches in this year's state tournament by 1-0 scores over Westmont Hilltop and Mercyhurst Prep before a 2-0 victory over McConnellsburg.
The Bearcats are led offensively by junior Ryan Moessner, who has 45 goals this season and 88 in his career. Brother and teammate Adam Moessner has 28 tallies as a freshman. Andrew Vipperman helped anchor the backline with Davenport, and with his classmate out of the match, the senior co-captain (Ryan Moessner also wears the "C") will carry a much-higher workload.
Senior DJ Hays is Bentworth's goalkeeper, but Vipperman can also step in when needed, which was the case during the penalty shootout in this year's WPIAL final.
Bentworth left school Thursday afternoon to get acclimated to the surroundings at Eagle View Middle School.
"We are proud to make the Bentworth community excited about sports again, and it's not just our team," Malarabi said. "The softball team and the girls soccer team here have done really well, and the football team made the playoffs.
"The support has been great. We have received a bunch of donations, and local businesses will always chip in, and that was there even when we weren't as successful. My understanding is that school will be canceled so folks can go to the game, which means so much to us. We know the town will come out and support us."
Lancaster Mennonite is seeking its second state championship after winning the Class 2A title in 2011. The Blazers were runners-up in 2012, '14 and '17.
Lancaster defeated Calvary Christian (2-0), Wyoming Seminary (2-1) and Camp Hill (1-0) to reach the final.
Msafiri Amisi leads the Blazers in scoring with 20 goals and eight assists. He scored the game-winner against Camp Hill in the semifinals. David Lapp (10 goals, 6 assists) and Cooper Halvorsen (7 goals, 11 assists) are notable scoring threats.
Lancaster starts a freshman goalkeeper, Lucas Kratz, who comes into today's action with 97 saves and nine shutouts.
The Blazers are coached by Fred Winey.
