We shouldn’t really be surprised at how Division I of the Schuylkill League boys’ soccer standings looks headed into today’s fixtures.
We should know by now that certain programs don’t rebuild, they only reload.
For example, it would be a stretch to ever call Blue Mountain a surprising team. The Eagles are Schuylkill League soccer royalty with their 14 league titles way ahead of the rest of the pack.
But even they are supposed to have rebuilding years, right? Well, if this is Blue Mountain’s version of rebuilding, the league is in trouble.
Coach Rob Burcik’s side graduated all its starting midfielders and nearly all its defenders from a season ago, when the team won the Division I title and reached the Schuylkill League final.
But rebuilding? Hardly. The Eagles have won six in row and are perfect in divisional play, atop the standings with 12 points. They’ll put that streak on the line today when they travel to second-place Lehighton.
Jon Benner and Cam Greenawalt have been potent spearheading Blue Mountain’s formation. Benner leads the area with 20 goals, while Greenawalt is fifth with 12.
But the biggest surprise has been the Eagles’ midfield. Scott Cox, Mitch Yeakley and Ian Leiby have been stellar moving the ball into the attacking third, while transplanted defender Angus Fortune is a steady rock in front of the new starting back line as a holding midfielder.
Even the defense has been better than expected. Blue Mountain has only allowed 17 goals in 11 games, and only five in its last six. Junior goalkeeper Aaron Albertini leads the league in shutouts with four.
Lehighton’s biggest concern coming into the season was how it would do without decorated defenders Chris Lawler and Craig Serfass.
The Indians struggled early on the back line against tough opponents like Blue Mountain and Whitehall, but have since settled down enough to give their sharp-shooters (Joe Marks, Frank Bokan, Dan Baka, Zach Christoff, etc.) a chance to win games.
Lehighton has won seven straight, including narrow victories over Pine Grove (3-2) and Pottsville (2-1), heading into today’s slugfest with Blue Mountain.
That brings us to another team that shouldn’t surprise us: Pine Grove. The Cardinals have been picking up steam and are currently in third place in Division I, two points behind Lehighton.
Before the season started, the biggest question for Pine Grove was how it would respond to losing all-state-nominated defender Marcus Brown to graduation. The best answer has been consistent scoring from David Snedden (nine goals), Cameron Shollenberger (six) and Michael Elo (six).
This year could’ve gone from gloom to doom for the Cardinals after sustaining back-to-back league losses to Lehighton and Blue Mountain on Sept. 12 and 17. Instead, they reeled off five straight wins in eight days.
Sandwiched in that stretch were league wins over Jim Thorpe (2-1), North Schuylkill (5-1) and Pottsville (1-0) and non-league victories over District 3 sides Conrad Weiser and Schuylkill Valley.
Additionally, Jim Thorpe has shown promise in joining the top half of the Division I standings following last year’s 6-12 showing.
The Olympians started the season 4-0-1, with a big divisional win over Pottsville in double overtime and the tie coming against Haven.
Lately, though, the Olympians have hit a rough patch. They’re winless in their last four, including divisional losses to Pine Grove, Lehighton and Blue Mountain. However, if Jim Thorpe can duplicate its early-season success in the next cycle of league games, it can get back in the league and district playoff picture.
Overtime perfection
It’s rare for teams to play more than a handful of overtime games in one season, let alone five.
... Let alone win all five.
Hamburg is undefeated in all five of its games that have gone beyond regulation this season. The Hawks beat Wallenpaupack in overtime to win the Buckhorn’s season-opening tournament before topping Eastern York on penalties Sept. 12.
Then there was last week, no doubt a stressful one for coach Chris Zalasky. Hamburg won all three games in overtime — beating Twin Valley 2-1, Schuylkill Valley 2-1 and Schuylkill Haven 1-0.
The Hawks are an impressive 10-2 overall and 5-1 in Berks Section II after Monday’s win over Berks Catholic — 1-0, of course.
(Wilson is boys’ soccer beat writer for The Republican-Herald. Follow him on Twitter @MWilsonRH.)
