Franklin Regional rallies from 2-goal deficit, beats Kiski Area in WPIAL 3A quarterfinals

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 | 9:50 PM

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An early two-goal deficit can stun some teams in the WPIAL soccer playoffs.

It seemed to inspire Franklin Regional. Let’s just say the Panthers took offense to it.

The third-seeded Panthers responded in waves after an early charge from No. 6 Kiski Area, scoring five consecutive goals on the way to a 6-4 victory in a physical WPIAL Class 3A boys soccer quarterfinal game Wednesday night at Panther Stadium in Murrysville.

Kiski Area (16-4) jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 11 minutes in, but Franklin Regional (15-3) widened the field, played away from well-marked standout Anthony DiFalco and hit the accelerator to overtake the Cavaliers and advance to the semifinals for the fourth straight year.

“We don’t really let that get to us. We had that happen to us against Plum,” Panthers junior midfielder Colton Hudson said of the two-goal deficit. “So we know what to do. We have to pick each other up. We know the scoring is going to happen. We got some goals back and got the momentum back, too.”

Hudson had two goals and an assist as Franklin Regional rallied to take a 3-2 lead into halftime and added to its lead over the second 40 minutes.

Franklin Regional will play the winner of No. 7 Moon (16-2) and No. 2 Hampton (16-1) on Monday at a time and site to be determined.

“We had a slow start, but once we went down, we executed very well,” Franklin Regional first-year coach Thomas Louisy said. “We have really good attacking players, so this team is always going to create opportunities to score. We have to do a better job defending as a team.”

DiFalco was bumped, picked off and roughed up most of the night. With the 117-career goal scorer cuffed, his teammates found their way onto the stage.

“A lot of players were on Anthony, so we utilized that to our play,” Hudson said. “We played off of him. There was maybe 20 yards in the midfield; it helped us actually. He may not have scored, but he did a lot for us.”

In the first round, Kiski Area didn’t have the early momentum. The Cavaliers had to rally for four second-half goals to overtake Gateway, 5-1. This time, they could not come back against a Panthers team that denied them their first trip to the semifinals since 2015.

Junior Anders Bordoy and senior Campbell Curry each scored twice in the season-ending loss that started with such promise.

“You would think (the 2-0 lead) would be a good thing,” Kiski Area coach Sean Arnold said. “You run the risk of them thinking it’s over. A two-goal lead is hard to play with. You want to keep the throttle up, but you don’t want to go too aggressive. You try to find the right balance. We gave up a couple easy goals, and it put them right back in the game.”

Kiski Area struck quickly, catching the Panthers off-guard with the two early goals. After a corner kick, the Cavaliers kept the Panthers from clearing. The ball came to Curry, who ripped a shot into the cage in the ninth minute.

“We have issues with set pieces, so that is something we need to keep working on,” Louisy said. “We need to defend and get that ball out.”

Less than two minutes later, the aggressive Cavaliers drew a foul. That set up Bordoy for a free kick from 30 yards away. He calmly lasered the attempt far right to make it 2-0.

Franklin Regional stayed its aggressive self on the attack, and a couple of near chances resulted in a ricochet that came to a waiting Dylan Tomb. The junior chipped it right, past junior Maddox Anderson and into the nylon to make it 2-1.

In the 35th minute, the Panthers tied it on a set piece. DiFalco sent the ball in and freshman Joe Bayne finished for a 2-2 score.

“I am pretty sure the next team we play is going to put two guys on Anthony,” Louisy said. “When they do that, we have other players who can step up. Colton is a fantastic player. Billy (Christafano) and Joey (Bayne) was doing amazing. Our midfield worked hard all game. I was happy the boys didn’t put their heads down.”

With opportunities limited for Kiski Area as the first half played on, the Panthers added a third straight score to go ahead 3-2. Hudson broke behind the defense around the 10-yard line and finished to keep the momentum firmly on the Panthers’ end.

Anderson came out to take a free kick and the Cavaliers almost tied it on his try. Sophomore keeper Aryan Selokar snared it, but it slipped out his hands. Junior defender Jake Kimmich headed it out of trouble to preserve the one-goal advantage.

DiFalco made it 4-2 in the 46th minute when he converted a free kick from 30 yards, his 33rd goal of the season. Hudson then passed wide to junior Billy Christafano and the left-footer delivered low for the fifth goal.

“The best player on the field, you want to deny him the ball,” Arnold said of DiFalco. “We were hoping if we shut him down, the other guys wouldn’t hurt us as bad. But they’re a good team. They’re aggressive. We definitely lost the 50-50 battles. They won a lot of tackles and free balls, and I think that was the difference when they scored all those goals in a row.”

Curry added his second score shortly after to cut the margin to 5-3 before Hudson found the net again to some breathing room with about nine minutes to play.

“We have players who can score from many different positions,” Louisy said. “We have midfielders, wingers, strikers, we have goals coming from all over so that’s a good thing.”

That goal helped because Bordoy converted a penalty kick with 2:59 left to make it 6-4.

Kiski Area, which had won 10 of its last 11 games, received three yellow cards, all in the second half.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Kiski Area