Underclassmen spark McGuffey to win
CLAYSVILLE – Larry’s good, man.
On a night when McGuffey’s seniors played their last home boys soccer game, Larry Goodman, a sophomore, scored the winning goal in the 68th minute to give the Highlanders a 2-1 win over Knoch in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.
“One hell of a goal,” Goodman said. “I did what coach wanted me to do. Worked in practice, like he wanted us to, go across the body, hit across and put it in.”
McGuffey coach Brian Gillespie said Goodman is “going to be special.”
One of Goodman’s classmates scored the team’s other goal. Nate Klerr opened the scoring on a penalty kick with 1:26 left in the first half.
For Gillespie, his underclassmen are underclassmen only in class years, not in experience.
“There are no underclassmen anymore this season,” Gillespie said. “We’re done being that, and a lot of those guys saw significant playing time last year on a playoff team. So, yeah, they’re not underclassmen anymore. We need (them) to be seniors to continue.”
As crucial as Goodman and Klerr’s goals were, McGuffey’s MVP for the evening might have been its freshman goalkeeper.
Sam Stout isn’t a natural goalie. He didn’t get the starting job until the seventh game of the season, and Gillespie plans on starting him in the midfield next year.
But Stout looked like he belonged in goal Monday night and ended the game with 10 saves on 11 shots.
“I think my dives were really working out tonight,” Stout said.
“They were (going) left to right. It was really working tonight.”
“He’s stepped up really big for us all year,” Gillespie said, “and he’s going to be very good.”
The only shot he didn’t save happened in the 45th minute.
Knoch’s (10-9) Caleb Oskin got one by Stout to tie the game at 1-1.
But McGuffey (13-5-1) delivered the last blow.
It’s just the third playoff win in McGuffey’s program history, with the last coming in 2015. That game was another 2-1 Highlanders win.
“It’s awesome,” Goodman said.
Gillespie was an assistant coach for that 2015 team, and now, he runs the show, and he’s looking to pilot a big upset Thursday.
Next up, McGuffey takes on the No. 1 seeded team in 2A, South Park. That quarterfinal matchup will kick off at 6:30 p.m. South Park advanced with a 6-0 win over Mount Pleasant.
Overall, Gillespie feels his team could have played better against Knoch.
“There are a lot of times that we deserved a lot better in some of the games this year, and we didn’t get it. I thought (Knoch) got a little bit of the better of us today.”
Maybe so, but McGuffey got the better of its opponent on the scoreboard.
“We executed twice, and they executed once,” Gillespie said, “and that’s the difference.”