The Abington boys’ soccer team made history on Tuesday night with its 4-1 win over Seneca Valley, earning the program’s first ever trip to the PIAA 4A state title game. Andrew Robinson will be at Friday’s state title game. Check back for his recap of all the action.
PIAA Class 4A state semifinal
#1-2 ABINGTON 4, #7-2 SENECA VALLEY 1
Three days after knocking off District 7 champion Fox Chapel, the Ghosts did the same to district runner-up Seneca Valley. The two teams boasted a combined 36-5 record entering Tuesday night’s game at Chambersburg Area High School.
The Ghosts were unfazed, opening up a 2-0 halftime lead and never looking back on their way to the decisive win.
“They started pressing just before halftime,” Abington coach Randy Garber said of Seneca Valley. “Our goalkeeper, George Hooven, made some great saves to keep them from scoring.
“Definitely, they were very technical – they knocked the ball around. As soon as they were down 2-0, they got a little bit out of their rhythm and started to play more direct because they needed to score goals.”
Scoring first-half goals for the Ghosts were Jaza Vazquez (on a penalty kick) and Cooper Blynt. In the second half, Blynt connected on his second goal and Christian Hinkle added a goal that put the Ghosts on top 4-0 before Seneca Valley got on the scoreboard.
The win assured the Ghosts a spot in the program record books.
“They’re a great group of kids,” Garber said. “They like each other, and they’re just peaking at the right time.
“Chambersburg this year – for the first time in a long time – has been good to us. A couple years we couldn’t win there, and finally, this year was our year.”
Tuesday’s win sets up a date with West Chester Henderson in the PIAA 4A state final Friday.
“In districts, we won four games, and we played against a very good Haverford team in the district final and lost 3-1,” Garber said. “They scored a goal, and they scored another real quick goal, and you lose the district, but you say to the guys – ‘You have four games, and you could win states. Would you rather win states or would you rather win the district?’ Now we’re in the state final. It should be a real good final.”
Scoring summary
First half
Jaza Vasquez (A) Penalty kick
Cooper Blynt (A)
Second half
Cooper Blynt (A) from Jaza Vasquez
Christian Hinkle (A) from Cooper Blynt
Seneca Valley goal
Abington coach Randy Garber:
--The goals: “The first goal was about 10 minutes into the game. Jaza (Vasquez) had the ball on the lefthand side. He dribbled and got inside the box. A kid brought him down. It was definitely a penalty kick. The referee was right there, called it immediately, put it on the spot, and he kicked it and scored. Ten minutes into the game, we were up 1-0.
“The second goal came probably about the last 10 minutes before halftime. A ball came from the righthand side across, and Cooper Blynt hit a full volley in the corner that just absolutely stunned their team because now they’re down 2-0 just before halftime.
“The second half, they came out and pushed forward like we told them they were going to. Jaza (Vasquez) knocked the ball across on a corner kick. Cooper went up and scored his second goal in the air. He headed the ball down, hit a defender, and the ball went into the back of the net, but the defender couldn’t do anything but hit the ball in the net because it was going in anyway. So instead of handing the ball, he tried to chest the ball out. When he chested the ball, he chested it into the side panel of the goal, so now it’s 3-0. We gave (the goal) to Cooper because – if the player wasn’t there, it was going in anyway because he beat the goalkeeper.
“They were pressing, and now it’s 3-0. The last goal came – Cooper played a ball through, and Christian Hinkle is probably about 6-2 and strong. He literally went down the righthand side, cut it across. The goalkeeper came out probably 12 yards, and by himself, he beat the goalkeeper and just tapped the ball into the back of the net, and now it’s 4-0.
“Less than a minute after he scored – it’s 4-0, the defense has just relaxed, and they came down, knocked the ball across. A kid headed the ball in within a minute after we scored our fourth goal to make it 4-1. We just took care of business after that.”
--Double trouble: “Cooper (Blynt) and (Christian) Hinkle are two very big, strong guys, and in the second half, they just ran through them. They couldn’t stop them because they were big and strong.
“Hinkle scored against Fox Chapel on a header. He’s a kid that broke his toe, and on Saturday, he had taken his SATs, he wasn’t even going to come, and he wasn’t even going to play. He gets in the game and scored a huge second goal that kind of closed the door on that game.
“Today, those two just went nuts. They didn’t have an answer for them because their size and speed and strength were just way too much.”
--More props: “Sean Westmoreland just won so many balls. Kyle Kretschman in the back was brilliant, Carter Shannon played brilliant – he did our long throw-ins. Cooper and Hinkle up top were special.
“We had to pull Jaza because of the fact – he should have had a second penalty kick, but the referee gave him a yellow card for diving. He didn’t dive. He really got taken down. We had to pull him out and sit him the rest of the game because we didn’t want him to get a second yellow card, so he didn’t play three-quarters of the second half. He sat, but Jaza was absolutely brilliant for the little bit of the time he was in. We couldn’t take a chance.”
Up next: Abington will face West Chester Henderson in Friday’s PIAA 4A state title game at Northeastern Senior High School on Friday (10am). Henderson – the top seed entering the District 1 Tournament - defeated District 1 champion Haverford 3-1 in the other semifinal, avenging a loss to the Fords in the district semifinals.
The Ghosts will try to add to Abington’s short list of state title holders.
“Abington has not won a state championship since 1981, and that was boys’ lacrosse, Garber said. “The only other state championship was the boys’ basketball team in 1974.
“First time we got to the finals. We’ll see what happens – it should be good.”
Abington 2-2 4
Seneca Valley 0-1 1
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