Submitted by P-O Soccer
Philpsburg-Osceola’s senior strike force rained down 11 goals and five assists in a 2011 Opening Day drowning of visiting Tyrone on a flooded pitch that looked more like an everglade than a few prime acres of Curtis Park soccer real estate.
Senior midfielder Alex Boumerhi netted four times and assisted twice. Senior striker Greg Kojadinovich also struck four times and had an assist. Senior striker Antonino Turrigiano pounded home three goals and two assists. All of this to run out to an 11-0 lead before the game was 60 minutes old. Sophomore Nick Boumerhi curled a corner kick inside the near post in the 69th minute to make it a dozen before Tyrone’s junior midfielder Kyle Bartlett rescued some dignity on the day, shooting one from near the corner of the penalty box and just under the bar and inside the near post to settle the matter 12-1.
On the day, the real story was a drastic weather pattern that just keeps dumping on central Pennsylvania making P-O’s already choppy pitch a wonderland of hidden puddles and misplayed balls.
“Today,” said Mounties’ head coach Shawn Inlow, “the style of soccer we’ve been cultivating so far was impractical. There were no easy passes and any ball could be an adventure. Thus, our guys played a lot more direct.”
Case in point was a long clearing ball by center back Taylor Golemboski that traveled perhaps 70 yards in the air that the elder Boumerhi nipped past Golden Eagle senior center back Skyler Yanchick before punching home in the 57th minute. Literally any ball could turn into a fiasco in the bayou-like conditions.
The Mounties open the season at 1-0 for the first time in recent memory and have made a good first step in the newly realigned Allegheny Division of the Mountain League. This year, due to the combining of Indian Valley and Lewistown, the league has lost its balanced schedule and old rival Central Mountain has shifted over into the Nittany Division with Bald Eagle, Bellefonte, Juniata and Penns Valley. The Mounties’ competition for the Allegheny Division consists of Huntingdon, Tyrone and Clearfield. The winner of each division plays for the ML Title.
“It still is going to come down to having to beat a pretty good team from the Nittany Division,” said Inlow.
Speaking of which, the Mounties travel to Central Mountain on Thursday for a 4 p.m. kickoff in what should be a more characteristic showing of the Mounties’ new possession game, another likely maelstrom of rain and foul weather, and hopefully another Mountie victory.