Published: November 07, 2007 12:36 am      

Susquehannock tops Bedford

BERLIN — Bedford rarely got any touches in the offensive end of the field Tuesday evening at Snyder of Berlin Sports Complex as a strong combination of rock solid defense and crisp passing by the Susquehannock Warriors wore out the Bisons, knocking them from the first round of the PIAA Class AA soccer tournament by a 5-0 final.

The Warriors’ swift ball movement led Bedford head coach Tom Otis to remark that his opponents “looked like a college team out there sometimes.”

The comparison wasn’t far off as Berlin didn’t press Susquehannock goalie Jesse Derksen into action until the 78th minute, when he stopped Bedford freshman Morgan Myslinski to record the shutout, his squad’s 12th shutout of the season.

Five different Susquehannock players filled the net to help seal the victory for the District 3 fourth-place finishers.

“We came out, we finished our opportunities, and we played well as a team,” said Susquehannock (16-3-1) head coach Ben Kettlewell. “(Ball possession) is typically the way we’ve been doing it all season, so nothing really changed. We came out with a lot of energy.”

“We’ve played some bad games on a narrow field because we do possess the ball and like to spread it out. It does run off on the sides and things like that, so we were concerned about that at the beginning. But we’ve played on that, and our home field is a narrower field, so we adapted,” Kettlewell added.

The Bisons played the Warriors to a relative stalemate until late in the second half, when Zachary Deal established position on the Bedford defense used a header to redirect Hunter Stem’s corner kick past Bedford goalkeeper Kevin Dudek in the 38th minute.

The second half didn’t go much better for the Bisons as the Warriors padded their lead early in the second half.

Zach Wendler buried a penalty kick in the 42nd minute, stopping short and firing right as Dudek dove left to make the score 2-0.

Susquehannock scored its third goal at the 25:06 mark of the second half, as Matt Meszaros played an excellent crossing pass through the scoring area to Dakota Conner, who belted a shot just under the crossbar.

Devin Geiman assisted on the fourth Warrior tally, scored by senior Joe Ferraracci in the 61st minute. Adam Walls set the final by scoring into a nearly empty cage with just 28 seconds left.

Dudek made eight saves in the face of a steady barrage of Susquehannock scoring opportunities.

It was a disappointing finish for Bedford, which finished 19-2-1, but the Bisons project to have eight starters returning for next season.

“Our guys never really gave up, but we had a great season overall,” said Otis. “They played their hearts out, and that’s all you can ask.

“We’ve got a lot of returners (for next season), but definitely our season was excellent overall.”