Published: November 03, 2009 12:30 am      

Penns Valley eliminates Cambria Heights

STATE COLLEGE — Cambria Heights held off Penns Valley’s offense as long as it could.

But patience paid off for the Penns Valley boys’ soccer team Monday night when Tyler Silks booted in the game-winning goal with 2:26 left in regulation to beat Cambria Heights 2-1 in the District 6 Class A semifinals.

“You could smell the blood in the water,” Penns Valley coach Scott Case said. “We were having fantastic offensive runs, we were clanging the posts. They were ready. It was ready to come, and it did.”

Evan Gover scored the other Rams goal while Chad Veneskey scored for the Highlanders. Penns Valley will play in the district championship game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Hollidaysburg’s Tiger Stadium against either defending champion Richland or Bishop McCort, which play in tonight’s other semifinal.

The game-winner developed off a throw-in by Josh Stover. The ball got to the feet of Martin Black, who then sent a cross through the Highlanders defense to Silks in the middle of the penalty box.

“That was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen,” Silks said. “Martin Black crossed it to me. There were two players looking at the ball. They were looking at it expecting the other one to go get it. It just came right to me, and I was almost too shocked to even shoot. But it was just reflexes.”

He buried the ball inside the left post past keeper Brian Patterson to book a return ticket for the Rams (16-2-1) to the district final.

“He was standing right where he was supposed to be,” Case said. “He got the ball in the net.”

“The last goal was just a breakdown on defense,” Cambria Heights coach Steve Krug said. “The ball (was) hanging there and nobody stepped up and took the ball.”

The Highlanders (10-7-2) struck quickly for their goal, just 2:37 into the game, when the ball was sent in from the side and Rams keeper Nate Sweeley mishandled the ball. In a crowd, Chad Veneskey got his foot on the ball and booted it into the open net.

“If the ball’s in front of the net, (Veneskey) finds it,” Krug said. “With a foot, with a head, he always seems to find it. It happened so quick.”

The game had been even for the first 20 minutes, but it took a frightening turn when Penns Valley senior Stefan Kelly collided with a Cambria Heights player and fell to the turf. The game was delayed about 40 minutes before he finally left in an ambulance – giving a thumbs-up signal to the crowd as he was carted from the field – with a broken leg.

“We’re a very close team and he’s a wonderful young man,” Case said. “I think in some ways him getting injured re-doubled what we needed to do.”

“That motivated us,” Silks said. “To see Stefan down like that, he wasn’t getting up, either, and that scared us. But we stayed strong. We regrouped.”

That actually turned out to be the turning point in the Rams’ favor, using the down time to regroup.

“We talked about playing our game, a control game that we’ve essentially put together this season,” Case said. “We’re a very controlled, slow-build team and we hadn’t been doing that at the start. We were too wound, too nervous, too something.”

Case had been incredibly disappointed in the way his team played those first 20 minutes.

“For a team that’s been to the playoffs four years in a row, we came out looking like little schoolgirls that had just got a new pony and were all excited,” Case said. “We played nervous.”

The inspiration paid off with 4:42 left in the first half, when John Downie carried the ball along the sideline and chipped a cross to Gover, who was making a run down the far side of the penalty box and one-timed the ball past Patterson.

The Rams then dominated play during the second half, holding the ball in their offensive end much of the night and posting a 13-4 edge in shots after halftime.

“They increased the tempo,” Krug said. “They forced our defense to – they were overloading on one side.”

Notes: Sweeley made four saves while Patterson stopped seven shots. ... Overall, Penns Valley outshot Cambria Heights 22-11. ... Richland beat Penns Valley 2-0 in last year’s district final.