Backyard battle
Kolencik’s OT goal gives Mustangs hard-fought playoff win over Red Raiders
Laurel Highlands got a rare, clear shot on goal and Matt Kolencik made it count.
The Mustangs and Uniontown had battled through 80 minutes of regulation and one 15-minute overtime and as the clock was ticking down in the second OT their WPIAL Class 3A playoff match seemed like it might be headed to penalty kicks.
Kolencik had other ideas.
The senior captain took a pass from Chase Hall and sent a left-footed kick towards the goal from 24 yards out. The high line drive eluded leaping Red Raiders’ goalkeeper Noah Holland, rang off the crossbar and down, deflected off Holland’s back and went across the goal line.
Laurel Highlands players stormed down the sideline in celebration, with Kolencik throwing in a complete flip in the process. The 1-0 victory was the Mustangs’ first in a decade and propelled them into a first-round match at top-seeded Plum on Saturday afternoon.
“My buddy Chase Hall, he set me up with a perfect assist right outside the box,” Kolencik said. “He’s been injured but has still been working super hard.
“I thought it was either too high or Noah got his hands on it but he just missed it, it hit the bar and went down. When I saw it go in I was ecstatic.”
Laurel Highlands improved to 7-8-1 overall while Uniontown ended its season with a 6-8-1 mark.
The Red Raiders were making their first postseason appearance in 30 years. Uniontown coach Jamie Holland tried to console his players, many of whom collapsed in dejection on the field after Kolencik’s kick went in.
“I them you’ve done something here that no one’s done in 30 years,” Holland said. “They set so many goals and achieved a lot of them this year. These kids … it’s amazing. It’s great to be part of.
“Our seniors, our program has improved tremendously since their freshmen year. With the numbers we have I know the boys would love to get back to something like this.”
The two split their regular-season matches in Section 2-3A and wound up tied for fourth place. The third meeting was a close fight throughout with both teams giving their all in front of their many fans on hand.
“That’s one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of,” coach Holland said. “I grew up coaching some of these kids from LH. I’m proud of all of them. They’re good kids on both sides and they entertained us for more than 90 minutes.
“It was a great game for everyone involved. The crowd was great, there were loud sections cheering. It was a great experience. I’d love to do this again.”
Laurel Highlands coach Alexander Guie agreed.
“You could tell the intensity was ratcheted up even another level with this being a playoff contest with a rival team,” Guie said. “You could tell it was getting physical and everybody was also a little bit tight because they didn’t want to make a mistake so I think that’s why it lingered at 0-0 for a long time. Hat’s off to Uniontown. They played well. They defended pretty solidly the entire time and they had a game plan they tried to execute. They’re an excellent team and had a great season. I can’t wait to play them again twice next year.”
Mustangs goalkeeper Dan O’Neal, who had the clean sheet, credited his team’s unity for pulling out the victory.
“We knew this was going to be one of the most intense games of our season,” O’Neal said. “It’s all about the teamwork and communication we’ve built up over a decade. We grew up with each other. That’s the reason we won.”
“Danny is a solid player and a leader for us,” Guie said. “At times we need to lean on him and he came through with some big saves tonight. The defense also did a lot in front of him but when Danny was called on it was his time to show his skills and he did that excellently tonight.”
Both teams had difficulty putting together scoring chances throughout regulation and the extra frames.
Uniontown came perilously close to scoring with about 11:40 left in the second half when Logan Davis boomed a free kick from 58 yards out that Ty Harvey and Dean Kuna both headed in front of the net but the ball deflected out of bounds.
As the clock approached the six-minute mark, Uniontown’s Braylon Woods sent a pass to Jacob Farrell down the left side but Laurel Highlands’ Jackson Nairn disrupted the play and O’Neal gathered in the loose ball.
The Mustangs had the best scoring opportunities in overtime.
Jackson Baker sent a shot wide right from 18 yards out with 11 minutes left in the first OT. Kolencik sent a crossing pass into the box with around 8:30 remaining in the second OT but Holland intercepted it. Lucas Deguia put a shot on goal from 35 yards out with 7:18 left but Holland made the save.
The winning play was set up when Elliot Boor came up with a steal and got the ball to Hall who neatly teed up a short pass for Kolencik who sent in the winning shot.
“He hit a nice ball that just happened to get over the keeper, who might have even got a touch on it, but it just hit the bar, went down and went in,” Guie said of the winning goal from his perspective. “It was placed perfectly. That’s what you need in this tight, playoff environment is a little bit of luck. Throughout the season we’ve been short on luck so it was good to see something kind of bounce our way there to give us the result I think we deserved overall.”
Kolencik shared the credit with his teammates.
“I’ve got to thank my whole team,” he said. “We worked the entire 80 minutes plus overtime. We all worked our butts off.”
“It was an amazing effort by both groups,” Guie said. “Physical play, working the ball around, very tight defending. The people on the field played a lot of minutes on both sides. It was two solid team performances. We just happened to pull it out at the end.”
“The energy,” coach Holland said. “It’s a playoff game so everyone knows what’s on the line. All those boys on both teams gave 100 percent the whole game. It came down to just tired legs and who was going to get the goal at the end and it fell their way tonight.”
Laurel Highlands played the match without key starter Roman George who was out with an injury. Each team had one player – Deguia for LH and Josh Paris for Uniontown – sent off for five minutes with a yellow card.
Guie commended his team after the game.
“I told them that’s a complete team effort, 11 guys on the field working as a unit and persevering through adversity,” Guie said. “It was pretty the whole time but they were able to keep it composed in this kind of loud, boisterous environment.
“The fans were into it. It was great to see. Our players were able to remain level-headed and not let the atmosphere get to them and then pulled it out when they needed to.
“This is my second year and we made