Pottsgrove won the opening salvo of the boy's soccer edition of the Mervine Street Showdown, defeating the host Pottstown Trojans 5-2.
A sluggish Trojans side was knocked on its heels early in the game, as the Falcons put on pressure from the beginning.
"We have a small field here … we definitely wanted to play a little more direct and play the ball into their half," said Pottsgrove head coach Jay Witkowski.
The tactic worked, as the Grove overwhelmed Pottstown early and jumped out to a 4-0 lead at the half. Better communication and ball movement allowed the visitors to take control from the first touch. Pottstown's Miguel Ross was effectively contained for the entire game, scoring his only goal once the contest was all but decided.
"He's a real tenacious player," Witkowski said. "He's strong and he's fast, and they like to play stuff over the top to him. I think Vinny Pellechio did a great job staying with him."
Falcon midfielder Ben Kunrath opened up scoring with a header off a corner kick for the quick lead. Ethan Abdallah hit the second one home for the Grove thanks to one of Rushawn Lamond's three assists on the night. Lamond tormented the Trojans all game long, adding a penalty kick goal as well to top off the first. With a Travers Muttons goal for good measure, Pottstown found themselves in a 4-0 hole at halftime.
That deficit would have been even larger if not for stellar goalkeeping from Alejandro Perez Vanegas.
"Quick kid," said Trojans head coach Jason Pace. "This is his first year playing keeper. Every game he's just improving each time. I'm playing with a three man defense back there, so he gets pressured a lot. Even though the score didn't show it, he definitely played a good game back there."
Vanegas needed to stand on his head to keep the game from spiraling even further out of control before the break.
"With these postponed games, you're playing four game weeks," said Trojans head coach Jason Pace. "I'm not trying to make excuses; these kids are tired. They're tired, and they're not playing up to their full potential."
Pottstown showed flashes of that full potential in the second half, taking the fight to the Falcons and putting pressure on the Grove defense and second half goalie Niahz Wince. Taking a page from Witkowski's game plan, the Blue and White challenged more balls and found themselves with scoring opportunities.
Coach Pace jokingly attributed the change to "just yelling at them at halftime."
"I said 'You guys got to get to the ball; they're beating you to every ball. And you guys got to use more quick touches. And if you don't come out and play aggressive, you're going to loose.' And they came out in the second half," Pace said.
Pottstown finally found the net thanks to a penalty kick. Olatunde Oladipo got one past Wince, and the Trojans found new life. Finally swinging back, Pottstown's aggressive second half play payed off a second time, when Miguel Ross finally broke free. Ross split the defense and bulled his way to the net for Pottstown's second score of the game.
With the lead cut to 2 and a comeback not out of the question, Pottsgrove's Kevin Rodriguez decided to shut the door, with another assist from Lamond. Rodriguez's goal was the dagger, a punctuation mark coming right before the end of play.
"They're definitely a second-half team, and sometimes it takes a goal them started," Pace said of his side. "They just kicked it in too late. Too little, too late."
