Pine Grove’s mission was simple.
A win over Pottsville in Wednesday’s night’s Schuylkill League Division I game at Alumni Field kept the Cardinals’ District 11 Class A playoff hopes alive.
Two goals by Pine Grove leading scorer Cameron Shollenberger and a sound defensive formation gave the Cardinals just what they needed — a 2-0 victory over the Crimson Tide.
A win in today’s league contest with Jim Thorpe puts the Cards (7-7-1, 5-5-1 D-I) in the postseason.
“Gotta win them all. Gotta put it all on the line,” Pine Grove senior midfielder Tyler Christiansen said. “Go big or go home.”
Christiansen was part of the Pine Grove midfield and defense that frustrated Pottsville’s offense all night — an offense that was again without league leading goal scorer Tyler Wright, who will miss the rest of the season for undisclosed reasons.
That put a lot of attention on Pottsville senior midfielder and offensive creator Shea Golden, who was man-marked the entire second half.
“Golden was getting everything,” Pine Grove coach Mark Wyllie said. “He’s a nice player and he was getting too many touches on the ball so we marked him. That was specifically those players’ jobs to do. I don’t think he got more than 15 touches in the second half. I thought he was frustrated with our marking.
“We knew everything was going through Shea,” Wyllie added. “So we figured if we could shut Shea down, we’d be able to shut them down.”
The task of covering Golden was given to junior Brandon Lapp and freshman Brandon Frantz.
“Shea is definitely the main guy they’ve got and they’re always looking for him,” Lapp said. “We’re always, as a team, trying to shut him down, but just so he didn’t slip through us we had a guy specifically on him.”
Shollenberger’s two early goals allowed for the structural changes.
The Pine Grove sophomore sniper dribbled through traffic in the box and picked the top corner, cross-keeper to score in the 5th minute after Zach Tritt worked hard in the corner to get in a cross.
“Earlier in the year we would score and then give up,” Wyllie said. “We worked hard in practice defensively, keeping our structure and that helped us here.”
Shollenberger struck again in the 22nd minute off a shot from 40 yards out. Pottsville keeper Kyle Brennan lost his footing on a rock in the box while tracking the ball, allowing the shot to trickle over the goal line.
Brennan otherwise played a great game, stopping 16 shots. Twenty minutes into the game, Pine Grove had a 9-1 shot advantage that turned into 12-3 by halftime.
Golden had the Tide’s first shot on goal in the 14th minute, five minutes after Fernando Rivera’s cross just missed Golden wide open on the far post — Pottsville’s only real scoring chance in the first half.
Up front for the Crimson Tide (10-7, 6-6) were sophomore Ryan Reyes and freshman Collin Ebling.
“We had a freshman and a sophomore playing up front for us today — up against who I consider to be the best defender in the league, if not one of the best in the state in Marcus (Brown),” Pottsville coach Dave Newton said. “They played well. We did not.”
Since starting the season 4-0, Pottsville has only won back-to-back games once — Sept. 22 and 24. However, the Tide’s place in the District 11 Class AA playoffs is safe with their overall record.
Still, they have what they see as a statement game against Division II champion Schuylkill Haven on Saturday.
Pine Grove has won 4-of-5 and both meetings with the Crimson Tide this season, taking the Sept. 18 meeting 4-1 in Pine Grove.
But the Cardinals have work yet to be done. Tonight’s Division I game against Jim Thorpe (6-10, 3-7) could give Pine Grove its ticket to the district playoffs or a painful conclusion to the season.
“This one’s in the books,” Wyllie said. “I told them celebrate, but we don’t have a whole lot of time to do that. We gotta get ready for Jim Thorpe.”
Game Summary
Pine Grove (7-7-1, 5-5-1) 2 0 — 2 Pottsville (10-7, 6-6) 0 0 — 0
PG —Shollenberger, 5th minute
PG —Shollenberger, 22nd minute
Shots on goal: Pine Grove 18, Pottsville 5. Corner kicks: Pine Grove 4, Pottsville 2. Saves: Pine Grove (Soper) 5, Pottsville (Brennan) 16.
JV Score: Pine Grove 3-0