Nov 15, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

MANCHESTER – The Moessner brothers have combined for a lot of goals in their two years together at Bentworth, but none bigger than the one on Saturday night.

Four minutes into the first overtime, older brother Ryan Moessner lifted a ball to Adam, and he took care of the rest, scoring a golden goal to give Benworth its first state title in a 1-0 victory over Delco Christian in the PIAA Class A boys soccer championship at Northeastern High School.

The Bearcats finished off a perfect 25-0 season in dramatic fashion.

After scoring the game winner, Adam ripped his jersey off in celebration.

“(Ryan) played a long ball over the top and the center back was kind of far away from the goal, and he tried to head it back,” Adam said, while holding on to the ball he scored the game-winner with. “I didn’t think it was going to make it back to the goalie so I turned to run for it. It came right to my feet and I was able to put it past the goalie. It felt amazing.”

It was the first goal conceded by Delco Christian (18-4) in the playoffs. That includes the entire District 1 playoffs, and the three state matches to get to the finals.

Ryan had a good look at the goal and took off running for his brother to celebrate after the ball hit the back of the net. It couldn’t have been a better ending to his Bentworth career.

“I just let out a scream,” Ryan said. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever been. I ran over to him, hugged him and eventually he got pushed onto the ground by everybody. It’s a surreal feeling.

The goal helped Bentworth turn the tables on last year when it lost to Lancaster Mennonite 1-0 in overtime.

“We said before overtime that we were going to go for it,” Ryan said. “We weren’t going to play defensive and we were going to try and score a goal. We’d rather score a goal in overtime than have it go to penalties, because that’s much more stressful.”

Bentworth went to a 4-4-2 formation for overtime with the Moessner brothers up top, but those plans were quickly derailed when Billy Moyer received a yellow card.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because Ryan dropped back into Moyer’s spot and ended up setting up the scenario for him to get the game-winning assist.

“I guess that worked out for our fortunes,” Bentworth coach Nick Malarbi said. “Billy gets a yellow, Ryan drops back and gets the assist that seals the deal. It’s amazing really. It’s a brother connection that’s unreal.”

The game almost didn’t go to overtime, because Bentworth and Delco Christian traded dangerous chances in the final minute.

First it was Adam Moessner, who took a shot in close that hit off Knights keeper Carter Dill and then off the right post before being cleared.

Delco Christian quickly went the other way and looked to have a chance to shoot, but Bearcats keeper Issac Vipperman anticipated it well and ran out to knock the ball away.

Bentworth had the better of the chances in regulation, but Isaac Vipperman and a backline that lost Dillan Colbert to an injury early in the game were strong to keep it scoreless. Freshman Garret Allen stepped in for Colbert.

Delco Christian’s Justin Ma and Cole Matthews received a yellow card for hard fouls in what was a physical game.

After three WPIAL titles in a row, Bentworth can now say it’s a state champion, putting an exclamation mark on what has been a dominant run.

“For us to get here is incredible,” Malarbi said. “If you would’ve told me a few years ago Bentworth would win a state title I would’ve probably laughed at you, but I’m glad it’s in the sport I love and with the people I love. It’s awesome.”