Oct 13, 2015 4 min read

McMURRAY – The balance of power has officially shifted in Section 5-AAA.

Despite playing a man down for the final 14:35 of the second half on the road against the defending WPIAL and PIAA champions, Canon-McMillan established itself as the top team in the section for the first time in 16 years.

Senior forward Nick Sodini scored twice and the Big Macs held off Peters Township in the final minutes to secure a 2-1 win and the Section 5-AAA title.

It is the first section title for Canon-McMillan (8-2, 12-2) since 1999 and the Indians (6-3-1, 9-4-2) went from having a chance to win the section to falling into third place behind the Big Macs and Upper St. Clair.

“When I got here five years ago, the program was up and down,” Canon-McMillan head coach Larry Fingers said. “We didn’t expect to win the WPIAL in my second year, but we wanted to be mentioned as one of the best programs in the WPIAL.

“I don’t want to say it’s come full circle, because that would mean winning it again, but these seniors were freshmen then and were a big part of it. It’s nice to see it come together.”

One card could have changed it all. With less than 15 minutes remaining in the second half, Canon-McMillan senior defender Alex Ablak was called for a foul on a slide tackle and was given a yellow card.

After arguing with an official, it changed to red – ejecting Ablak from the match and forcing the Big Macs to play a man down. Instead of faltering, they rallied around a decision that upset Canon-McMillan’s fans and coaching staff.

The Indians controlled possession after the ejection, creating chances on set pieces and narrowly tying the match on three occasions, but the Big Macs held on for the win.

“It lit a fire underneath us and that’s when we played as a team,” Sodini said. “We rallied together around that and it feels pretty good to get it done. We went from being a mediocre team to section champs.”

Sodini scored the game-winning goal in the 14th minute of the second half when Ablak collected a loose ball and quickly fired a low shot past a defender and Sodini was there to one-time it into the open net.

The Big Macs continued to pressure and won the battle at midfield before their patience finally paid off. Using a 3-1-5 formation, they played the ball into Peters Township’s end where Sodini directed a shot inside the far post to tie it 1-1 in the 29th minute for the lead.

“We had another bad 20 minutes against them in the second half and they took advantage,” Peters Township head coach Bob Dyer said. “They had a play on that second goal, which we knew from scouting them, and that’s on me. They are the section champs and they deserve it.”

After a 15-minute stretch of marking the Big Macs’ offensive threats and defending set pieces, Peters Township created its own chance when senior midfielder Brady Pike was fouled near midfield.

Sophomore striker Bryce Gabelhart took the ensuing free kick from 37 yards and his hard, low pass went through a wall of defenders and was one-timed by senior midfielder Chase Sirera for the 1-0 lead in the 17th minute.

Senior midfielder Luke Maher narrowly tied it less than four minutes later when he dribbled past several defenders and fired a crossing shot that went just wide of the net.

Indians sophomore striker Logan Brinsky did not need a set piece or even a pass to come close to scoring before the half. On three occasions, the first-year starter dribbled around defenders to create space before releasing a rising shot that narrowly missed the net.

Playing with a man advantage late, Peters Township almost tied it when Luke Kelly one-timed a lead pass from Matt Massucci but was stopped by Big Macs goalkeeper Christian Snatchko. Kelly almost scored less than a minute later when another shot went just wide.

“We were against some challenges tonight,” Fingers said. “The kids knew the section title was at stake tonight and they responded well to the pressure. This isn’t an easy place to play and we dealt with a questionable call by an official. It was a crazy environment for a soccer match and to play with 10 guys against a team like Peters Township is pretty remarkable.”