County pair earn all-state honor
For Louis Newell, it was a great way to cap his soccer career. For Tate Mohney, it serves as a springboard toward what figures to be a decorated senior campaign.
A senior midfielder at Seneca Valley and junior forward at Butler, respectively, both players were recently named to the all-state team.
“I never thought I'd be recognized like that in soccer and I was really excited when I found out,” said Newell.
Newell began wrestling in kindergarten and picked up soccer in the second grade. The former has been his best sport. He already has a WPIAL title and a pair of runner-up efforts at states to his credit.
Newell, who begins this season at 126 pounds for the Raiders, signed a letter of intent earlier this month to wrestle at the University of Pittsburgh.
“Once I got to high school, I definitely contemplated giving up soccer,” he said. “I talked to my coaches and decided to stick with it. I wanted to stay in shape and soccer is a great cross-training sport.”
This fall, the Raiders were paced by Newell's 10 goals. He added three assists and helped SV return to the WPIAL playoffs after the team graduated 10 of 11 starters last spring.
“I was a little intimidated the last few years because we had so many seniors on the team,” Newell said. “I found it easier to adapt this season. I was more dedicated and wanted to make things happen.
“Being an offensive player, I wanted to score goals.”
“Coming out of the midfield, he was able to make a big impact for us,” said Seneca coach George Williams, who saw Newell's play-making ability early on.
“In his sophomore year, he scored a humongous goal for us in a torrential downpour against Pine-Richland,” he said.
Newell earned a letter that season and played a key role in Seneca Valley reaching the PIAA championship game for the first and to date, only time in program history.
“We are lucky in that we always have talented players moving up to varsity,” said Williams, “but any time you graduate an all-state player, it's a big adjustment and it's going to leave a big gap to fill.”
Mohney led an impressive turnaround for Butler. In 2016, the Golden Tornado won just a single section game. This fall, the team won six such contests, won a playoff game and finished with a final record of 14-6.
Mohney paced Butler in goals with 18.
“There wasn't much excitement on last year's team,” Mohney admitted, “but I could tell from the start of the preseason that this year was going to be different. The captains took lead of the team and making it happen was pretty easy with everyone wanting to do it.”
Troy Mohney, Butler's coach and Tate's father, saw marked improvement in his son's game this year.
“He has always been a very good soccer player,” Troy said. “This season, he got frustrated a lot less and he worked harder. His vision on the field was something I really noticed.”
As big of a threat as he is to score, Tate Mohney has proved to be as good of a distributor of the ball. In his three varsity seasons, he has scored 29 goals and contributed 30 assists. His 18 assists this fall fell one short of the program's single-season record.
“He likes having the ball at his feet and loves scoring goals, but also passes the ball tremendously well,” Troy said. “He took a lot of our corner kicks this season and has the ability to drive the ball in or loft it and it's usually pretty accurate.”
His all-state selection tells Tate Mohney he is right on schedule in his soccer career.
“It's a great honor,” he said. “It was one of my goals before the season and I want to get All-American next year.
“I can't put it all on me, though,” Mohney added. “I was happy to put up the numbers I did, but would not have been able to do all of that without my teammates.”
