Nov 10, 2014 5 min read

The rise of WPIAL boys soccer programs in the South Hills of Pittsburgh began almost 30 years ago. The sport grew in popularity among the youth ranks and two of the best organizations for fostering that talent – Beadling Soccer Club and Century United of Pittsburgh Football Club – had strong roots in the communities.

The recent results have been staggering.

Fourteen of the past 15 WPIAL Class AAA boys soccer champions are public schools in the South Hills. Eight of the last 15 PIAA Class AAA tournaments had a team from the area reach at least the semifinals. Five won state championships.

This year has not shifted the thinking of how people perceive the sport’s strength in the South Hills. Two local teams are the latest to continue the trend.

Peters Township (20-2), which won its second consecutive WPIAL Class AAA title, will face Lower Dauphin (18-5-1), the runner-up in District 3, in the PIAA semifinals tonight (7 p.m.) at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona.

The Indians will be joined in Altoona by South Fayette (18-4-1), the third-place team from the WPIAL in Class AA. The Lions will play Lancaster Mennoninte (23-2), the third-place team from District 3, at 5 p.m.

Both South Fayette head coach Rob Eldridge and Peters Township’s Bob Dyer have watched the sport grow in the South Hills over the past decade into one of the top areas in the state for soccer. Eldridge was the head coach at Peters Township before moving on to South Fayette.

Eldridge attributes the strength of the soccer programs to a winning tradition. While some schools around the WPIAL see it as a second-tier sport behind football, programs such as Peters Township, Upper St. Clair, Mt. Lebanon, South Fayette and South Park expect soccer success and treat the programs in in a first-class manner.

“These teams playing in the South Hills have to go to war every week just to get into the playoffs,” Eldridge said. “What the South Hills brings is that competition to your regular schedule to prepare you for the playoff run where other teams don’t have that level of competition day in and day out. The South Hills kids are battling all the time.”

Dyer agreed with Eldridge’s statement.

“Playing each other on a consistent basis is the main factor,” Dyer said. “Since you have one champion and you know the one champion from years past, you prepare yourself to raise your level to their level and that’s what it is. Right now, teams are winning titles down here.”

The Indians will face Lower Dauphin, which eliminated Upper St. Clair in the first round of the state playoffs and defeated Archbishop Wood, the District 12 champion, in the quarterfinals.

“They are a very good defensive team,” Dyer said. “If you look at their goals and what they commit themselves to, they commit to shutting a team out and to getting a goal. They are a defensive-oriented team with a couple of good strikers.”

Does that sound familiar? It should. The Indians have allowed five goals all season and just one during the postseason. Senior strikers Mario and Nicco Mastrangelo have paced the offense and are receiving Division I interest.

Despite losing its starting goalkeeper and a starting defender to graduation after last season, Peters Township inserted senior Joshua Deyarmin in net and Jake Valley moved back to the district after living in California. The duo helped ease the loss.

Valley, senior Sean Harrison and junior Kelson Marisa give Peters Township and its two strikers freedom to create plays.

“They’re rocks. They have been solid the whole year,” Nicco Mastrangelo said. “They are definitely under-rated. I always think they are solid.”

After losing in the PIAA quarterfinals the past two years, the Indians are close to clinching their first trip to the state final since 2008.

“I think the coaching staff got smarter about preserving certain guys and resting guys in certain places,” Dyer said. “We’re fresher and this senior class understands that they are playing without a net. One loss and you are out.”

South Fayette’s hopes of returning to the WPIAL Class AA title game took a hit in the spring when leading-scorer Brian Coyne suffered a season-ending injury. It forced Eldridge to be creative with his system and formations.

Nick McKee and Jordan Smith have helped pick up some fo the scoring burden.

“We’ve been somewhat reliant on Brian in the past, so I think in his absence we had to formulate a new game plan,” Eldridge said. “We know our kids are very coachable and we were able to put together a system that can generate some offense, yet still be solid defensively.”

Eldridge coached at Peters Township from 2002-06. Building South Fayette’s soccer program to emulate the one in McMurray was the goal. The Lions are one step closer to making his vision a reality.

“This is the maturation of something we started years ago,” Eldridge said. “The guys feel like they have an unfinished job. We’ve really stressed it’s more than what we’ve done this year, but it’s a continuation of the last few years.”