Oct 21, 2025 3 min read

CANONSBURG – The first 10 minutes were an exercise in patience for the Canon-McMillan boys soccer team while trying to break down Hempfield.

Once the Big Macs did, they reaped plenty of rewards.

Levi Good scored in the 11th minute, and the fifth-seeded Big Macs rolled from there to a 9-0 victory over No. 12 Hempfield in the first round of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs Tuesday night.

“I think we did a great job possessing the ball and keeping our shape,” said Gabe Fegely, who had two goals and two assists for the Big Macs. “The press we’ve been practicing the last couple of weeks was very well executed and everything worked out well.

Canon-McMillan (14-3) advanced to play at No. 4 Seneca Valley in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Hempfield, who was in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, finished 5-12.

The Big Macs had to break down a Hempfield team that, whether by design or not, had all 11 players behind the ball from the start of the match.

It led to a crowded area to play through, but with tenacity and strength the Big Macs won the ball with regularity.

The first time Hempfield tried to play forward, they committed a turnover at midfield and Fegely went the other way. With space to work with, he ripped a shot off the crossbar, but Good was there to put the rebound into a yawning net.

“That goal definitely settled some nerves and opened everything up,” Fegely said. “Everyone was much more comfortable.”

The Big Macs added to their lead in the 24th minute. A short corner was played to Fegely and he served a ball into the box, which Eli Krisher headed home.

It was Krisher’s first goal of the season.

“When (the short corner) is there you kind of recognize that there’s a lot of space to work with,” Fegely said. “I just had time to hit it and I aimed for the back post. If it goes in, it goes in, but if not you know there’s going to be people there.”

Ceklosky capped off the first half by assisting on another goal in the 36th minute. He sent a cross in from 30 yards that Adam Kuchera headed home, which increased the lead to 3-0 going into halftime.

“That goal settled the game for us,” Kuchera said. “We knew we could possess in the second half and go after them and if we made a few mistakes we could recover from them.”

Cole Debbis scored twice in the second half, both were right in tight by the goal line. Fegely added a goal in between the two by Debbis.

Quinn Kiefer scored with 10 minutes remaining, Gavin Patterson added another three minutes later and Julien Saintonge netted the final goal with just under four minutes remaining.

The Big Macs have won a playoff game for the second consecutive season. They’ll travel to Butler County to play a perennial power in Seneca Valley. A win Saturday could set up a potential third meeting with Peters Township in the semifinals.

“Seneca is there every year,” Big Macs coach Tom Sochacki said. “They always have talent. It seems like they can reload every year. I think (Class 4A) is wide open. You take the top five or six teams and I think any of us can win it. We’re all pretty even. It’s just any given night.”