Raiders hang on
JACKSON TWP — Fox Chapel has come a long way in a year, a little too close for Seneca Valley on Wednesday.
The Raiders — who had crushed the Foxes 22-0 last season — built an 8-2 lead at halftime, but Fox Chapel tallied four of the game's final five goals as SV held on for a 9-6 victory at NexTier Stadium.
“We played sloppy,” said Raiders coach Peet Poillon. “We didn't play team defense. Our stickwork was bad. We only played one half.”
“I walked in and wrote out 22-0 and the team had to see it all week,” said Foxes coach Geoff Dutelle. “If I tell them they had to rise up for this game, then you're missing the point.”
The Foxes (1-2, 1-2) scored the game's first goal thanks to Ben Gentile just 2:59 into the contest.
The Raiders, however, answered with four goals in a 5:36 span to stake themselves to a three-goal advantage.
Brendan Thomas and Will Koontz each recorded a goal and Andy Hickman added two, the latter coming with 2:42 left in the frame.
The Foxes trimmed the deficit in half when Alejandro Vega netted the first of his game-high four goals just 22 seconds into the second period.
Again, the Raiders (2-0, 1-0) countered with four consecutive goals to take the 8-2 halftime lead.
David Hall, Koontz, Thomas and Koontz again accounted for those goals with Hall assisting on Koontz's goal and Jordon Kelly getting assists on the latter two goals.
At the half, Dutelle knew his kids would not fold.
“We were trying to beat Seneca Valley,” said Dutelle. “We came out and played and it was great.
“They were not phased. They won't back down,” he added.
In the third quarter, Grant Gillman and Vega scored in a 40-second span to make it 8-4 with 8:27 left before the Raiders answered when Mason Pynos scored off Kelly's third assist of the game with one minute left in the frame.
Fox Chapel would close out the fourth-quarter scoring when Vega scored with 8:33 left in regulation and with 30 seconds remaining.
“Our guys don't have a lot of experience,” said Dutelle. “We've got a couple of freshmen in there and we're still learning.
“We lost a tough one to Franklin Regional (last week) and tonight we got it to a close game. Last year, we'd either win by 10 goals or we lost by 10,” Dutelle added.
Said Poillon, “We're pretty young (the Raiders lost 14 seniors from last year) but that's not an excuse ... We have no freshmen, so the 10th graders have to step up.
“We've got some big games coming up. Fox Chapel showed a lot of effort. We need to finish stronger than that. We have some good opponents coming up. We'll see how we respond.”
Notes: The Raiders captured the junior varsity game, 11-1 ... The Raiders return to action Saturday in Medina, Ohio.
