Metal detecting enthusiast Jeff Yoder, center, found a Knoch High School class ring lost on campus in 2007 by Meghan McCrea McAnulty, right, who is now married and lives in Charleroi, Allegheny County. Principal Todd Trofi muk, left, was able to track McAnulty's family down through school records to tell them the long-lost ring had been recovered.

Meghan McCrea McAnulty, now of Charleroi, Allegheny County, knew her proud parents saved up to buy her a class ring in 2007 during her senior year at Knoch High School.

Heading onto the field to play a varsity soccer game that year, she removed all of her jewelry and placed it near the Knoch Knights soccer goal. When the game ended, her class ring was gone.

“I thought as people were shooting at the net, maybe the ball hit it and knocked it away,” McAnulty recalled. “I was more upset about disappointing my parents.”

McAnulty never thought she'd see her class ring again.

“I was just like, well, I guess it's gone and I wasn't going to ask them to pay for another one and I didn't have the money, so I just chalked it up as a loss,” she said.

McAnulty went on to earn her bachelor's and two master's degrees from California University, and was married in 2017.

She recalled looking at the high school class rings worn by many of her classmates during her freshman year at Cal U.

“That's probably the last time I thought about it,” she said of losing her Knoch ring.

Fast forward 13 years from that fateful soccer game, when Todd Trofimuk, Knoch High principal, received a peculiar email May 18 from local resident Jeff Yoder.

Yoder, the parent of a current Knoch senior, reported that he had found an old class ring while pursuing his hobby of metal detecting at the Knoch High athletic complex.

He said the ring was from 2007 and inscribed with “Meghan.”

The sleuth in Trofimuk immediately emerged.

“Through the miracle of technology, I just went through our graduates in 2007 and she was the only girl named Meghan spelled that way in that graduating class,” he said.

After making the discovery, he accessed the student information from 2007.

“We still had the phone number in the system, although the girl is 31,” Trofimuk said.

But the line was still connected and he left a message with Meghan's mother, Cindy.

A return call confirmed her daughter had lost her class ring many years ago and provided Trofimuk with Meghan's email address.

Trofimuk, who was an assistant principal at the school in 2007, sent his former student an explanation of what had happened along with a photo of the ring that was provided by Yoder.

“It was much like the world we live in,” Trofimuk said of connecting finder and owner. “It was pretty instantaneous.”

McAnulty said she first received a voicemail from her mother reporting that her ring might have been found.

“I called her and I was like, 'What ring?'” Meghan said, “and she said my class ring. I said, 'No way. It's been in the dirt for 13 years.' I was very happy and shocked.”

The ring was given to Cindy for safekeeping until Meghan visited from Charleroi a few weeks later.

She appreciates Yoder and Trofimuk for their efforts in returning the irreplaceable item.

“Not everyone would take the time and effort to find the owner,” McAnulty said. “I know Mr. Trofimuk is a very nice guy. I appreciate him doing that for me.”

Yoder said the ring was about two or three inches under the surface of the ground on a slope near the soccer field.“Lots of times I'll get coins and things, but when I pulled up the find, it was a ring,” Yoder said.Because it was encased in dirt after 13 years underground, Yoder couldn't even tell it was a class ring when he dug it up.“I got home, cleaned it up and showed my kids,” he said.When the family saw the ring had a single name inscribed in the metal, Yoder immediately called Trofimuk.“It was a special time for my daughter, Abby, who's graduating this year,” Yoder said.Yoder never considered keeping or cashing in on the ring.“I live by the adage it's never the wrong time to do the right thing,” he said. “With the spelling of the name, I thought we might be able to find the owner.”Meghan was excited to see the ring and reminisce a little about her high school years at Knoch.“I'll take it to a jeweler to get it cleaned because, obviously, it could use a little shining,” McAnulty said.She wonders if the reunion with her ring would have happened had it been found elsewhere.“I've never been in another area that had such a family-oriented and community-minded thought process,” McAnulty said of the Saxonburg area. “Everyone looks out for everyone else and it's a very special place, for sure.”