In boxing — and even in soccer circles, they call it “the old 1-2.”
You don’t want to be on the other end of it in either sport.
It took less than 10 minutes for the Pennington boys soccer team to take a two-goal lead over Hun on the way to a 6-1 victory in Wednesday’s Prep A Tournament championship game at Pennington’s Pearl Family Stadium.
Kubah Appiah and Tomas Ludvik scored goals just 66 seconds apart to give the Red Hawks a 2-0 lead with just 9:32 elapsed on the game clock.
Appiah went on to score three goals for Pennington (16-1), which captured its second straight Prep A title.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Pennington coach Chad Bridges said. “And that’s pretty much what we did. We wanted to come out early. We knew that Hun had had a lot of success. They’re a very good team. All credit to them. They had a phenomenal season. But our boys were ready.”
The Raiders (13-4-2) actually absorbed that first salvo pretty well.
A handball in the Pennington box put Hun’s Diego Pena at the penalty spot, and the senior goalkeeper put his try low and to the right to pull a goal back exactly eight minutes after Ludvik scored. Eight minutes after that, a low 30-yard shot from Hun midfielder Oleksandr Mykhalchuk forced a save from Pennington keeper Topher Kelley at the right post.
Maybe tying the game at that point would have made it different.
“It definitely could have,” Hun coach Patrick Quirk said. “(The score) almost looks like we didn’t create opportunities. We created opportunities. We had chances, and if we score, it’s definitely a different game.”
As it was, the next combo was about to land.
A lead pass from Matthew Addai found Appiah in space, and the senior forward connected on a 30-yarder to make it 3-1 with 10:10 left in the half.
Senior midfielder Liam Baigun took a pass from Appiah and buried a left-footed shot from the perimeter to make it 4-1 with 1:51 left.
“I was about to shoot it with my right,” Baigun said. “But I saw (a defender) coming at me and I was like, why not? I’ll try it. So I faked (a shot) and I got lucky. He jumped, and from there it was just placing it. It came from a bunch of practice. I just tried to place it in a corner as best as possible and luck was on my side this time.”
It ran out at that point for the Raiders. At 3-1, a good bounce can get you back in a game. To be down 4-1 at the half to a team that hadn’t allowed as many as three goals in a game this year was just too deep a hole.
Appiah finished his hat trick with his most impressive goal of the night, in the 49th minute. Addai led him with a through ball that looked too long, but Appiah accelerated and got to it before the charging Pena. He finessed it with one touch over the keeper’s head and just under the bar.
“He’s from Ghana, I’m from Ghana, so we have good chemistry,” Appiah said. “He told me every time he gets a ball, I should run, so I just did it. I saw the keeper coming forward, so I just put the ball at the back of the net.”
Alvaro Caneier-Cozar closed the scoring for the Red Hawks with 4:14 left. Bacary Tandjigora led him in with a pass to the right side. Caneier-Cozar touched it wide of the sliding Pena, then hit a right-footed shot from a sharp angle into the gaping net.
“We just play our game,” Appiah said. “And the team – it’s so good to be part of this team. I feel so happy. It’s my last year. I’m going to miss this day. I’m happy to be the state champion, back-to-back. It feels so good.”
Baigun was also playing his last game for the Red Hawks.
“Like my teammates all put it, we’re Pennington,” he said. “This is only the beginning. I’ll be gone already, and they’ll be winning more state finals. I’m sure about it.”
Pennington’s 15-game win streak began and ended with the Hun School. The Red Hawks defeated the Raiders, 3-1, on Sep. 18. What’s transpired since then was a march to the history books.
“It says that we’re one of the best teams in the country,” Bridges said. “I still believe that, and we have the boys to prove that. We go in day-in and day-out just to get better. We focus on the next game and this was the next game. So we’re excited that we got the state title.”
Quirk was excited for what his team accomplished as well. The Raiders were a .500 team last season that chased some better competition and gave a good account of itself against it. Pennington, St. Benedict’s and the Hill School of Pennsylvania provided the only blemishes on a schedule that included public-school powers Delran, Steinert and Lenape — which didn’t manage a goal between them.
“I’m going to remember how much they fought for each other,” Quirk said. “How much they didn’t complain about anything and just worked hard.”
John Lewis can be reached at [email protected].
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