Central Cambria boys defeat Central in District 6 Class 2A quarterfinal
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EBENSBURG, Pa. – After dodging a few early scoring opportunities from Central, the Central Cambria boys soccer team started to dictate the pulse of Tuesday night’s District 6 Class 2A quarterfinal.
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In the seventh minute, senior Jonathan Rivera delivered the first goal.
Rivera scored the second goal and assisted on junior Rocco Barra’s marker to take a three-goal lead.
The second-seeded Red Devils, who have won a program-record 15 games this season, kept the Scarlet Dragons at arm’s length the rest of the night in a 3-1 victory to pick up their first District 6 playoff victory since 2001.
“Always getting that first one earlier on is an ice-breaker,” Central Cambria coach Bryce Croyle said. “It kind of gives those guys a little bit more adrenaline and some more to work off of. It was good to get that in the fashion Jon was able to finish that play off with. He’s been excellent for us this year.
“A number of those guys helped him out with some assists there. He helped out with another assist on the next one. We got a couple there pretty quickly and relative good succession.
“Getting them early in the first half before mid-half or so there, it really changes the tone there.”
Rivera scored his 28th and 29th goals of the season and provided his sixth assist on Barra’s 10th goal this year.
Just two years removed from a 4-14 campaign, Central Cambria (15-2-2) will host the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between No. 3 seed Juniata and sixth-seeded Bald Eagle Area Monday.
“I think teamwork, us passing the ball around and everyone putting in their effort was definitely the key to getting the goals in,” Rivera said. “After that first one, we definitely got a little bit more comfortable and started doing way better.”
No. 7 seed Central (7-9-3) generated a couple of early chances, but Central Cambria goalkeeper Jacob Fisher and the defense stood tall.
Rivera dribbled with his left foot near the middle of the field. He got enough space to unleash a blast with his left foot into the right side of the net for a 1-0 lead with 33:29 left in the first half.
With 12:21 remaining in the first half, Rivera received a pass from his brother Andres Rivera. Jonathan Rivera faked toward the center of the field, spun back around and finished with a left-foot laser into the top left corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.
“I received the ball and I felt him behind me, so I kind of tried to shift and lose him, kind of,” Jonathan Rivera said. “Then I saw the opportunity to shoot with my left and I took it.”
After Central goalkeeper Conner Rudnick made an initial save on Barra, the junior put in the rebound opportunity past Rudnick for a 3-0 advantage with 9:36 remaining in the first half. Jonathan Rivera notched the assist.
“There was some good movement through our midfield there,” Croyle said. “I feel our midfield is one of our big strengths with the team. We were able to release passes to some of the back side defensive areas and get some good chances.”
Central Cambria thrived in the open field, taking advantage of its creativeness.
“I think if I have more open space, it gives me more chances to dribble around and I’m more free to pretty much do whatever I want,” Jonathan Rivera said.
Central put early pressure on the Red Devils in the second half to cut into the deficit.
Later in the half, Fisher came out to contest a shot, but was handed a yellow card for not making contact with the ball as a Central player was injured on the play.
Central was awarded a penalty kick, and Owen Huber scored with 8:15 left.
Christopher Griffiths came in to relieve Fisher for five minutes.
Griffiths made a play on the ball to thwart a potential scoring opportunity before Fisher came back in.
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.