Moon boys blank Ambridge to end WPIAL title drought, join girls in WPIAL winners’ circle

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, November 5, 2022 | 6:03 PM

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Moon coach Earl Pannebaker added context to the history his team made Saturday.

The Tigers defeating section rival Ambridge, 3-0, in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game at Highmark Stadium ended several streaks. For people scanning the history books, Moon’s victory snapped a 19-year title drought by giving the Tigers their sixth WPIAL championship.

But Pannebaker knew it was beyond that for the community behind the team.

“Technically, yes, it’s been 19 years,” Pannebaker said. “For (Class) 3A, it’s been 32. We’ve got alumni that played in those WPIAL championships supporting them. All week long, the texts and phone calls have been coming in, especially with the boys and girls winning, it’s been special for everyone.”

Moon (20-0-1) had previously defeated Ambridge 5-0 and 5-2 during a pair of regular-season games. The Tigers will play District 3 third-place team Palmyra in the first round of the PIAA playoffs Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

“Words can’t describe what it means,” Moon senior midfielder Ryan Kopay said. “It’s awesome. Not everyone gets to experience this, and it’s awesome to be a part of this team.”

During the championship game, the scoring didn’t come as easy for the Tigers. It took 33 minutes before Kopay, an Akron recruit, broke through.

Kopay was fed in the box on a pass from Aedan Costa that he hammered into the center of the net to put Moon ahead 1-0.

“The first 30 minutes of the game was back and forth,” Kopay said. “We couldn’t get anything going. Costa can create and get us going. If I get a chance like that, I’m going to put it in the back of the net.”

Once Moon figured it out, the Tigers were able to tack on another goal right before halftime. Cooper Nickles got on the end of a header that snuck in to double the lead with 1:05 to go.

Pannebaker said Moon didn’t approach this match the same way they did the first two.

“When you play a team three times, you have to have something in your bag of tricks to do,” Pannebaker said. “We showed them one formation at the beginning and 20 minutes or so in, we switched because we needed to be in the middle.”

Ambridge, which made an unlikely run to the finals as a No. 11 seed, wasn’t going to give in easily. Bridgers coach Ben Fiore said his team made several changes hoping to generate offense.

Moon had a 5-4 edge in shots on goal.

“We changed our formation to drop our lineup deeper because we know they are fast and come with a high press,” Fiore said. “They still found gaps in that. We didn’t stay disciplined with keeping that formation, and they drew us out of position and took advantage of that.”

Ryan Hildebrand added a third goal in the second half to make sure there was no doubt.

Pennebaker was thrilled with the win, which he felt showed what the Moon program is capable of.

“It validates everything we’ve been working on for the last 10 years,” Pannebaker said.

Tags: Ambridge, Moon