Schenberg’s hat trick powers Saegertown past Warren

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September 20, 2012

Schenberg’s hat trick powers Saegertown past Warren

Anonymous Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Thu Sep 20, 2012, 07:00 AM EDT

SAEGERTOWN — Saegertown senior midfielder Jeff Mattocks has a good idea what it takes to score when the field is wide open: Kick the ball ahead to speedy forward Matt Schenberg and await success.

Schenberg did just what Mattocks expected by registering a hat trick during a crucial 4-2 triumph over Region 4 foe Warren on Wednesday at French Creek Valley Christian School.

“I know if I let the ball go for him, he will go get it,” Mattocks said. “So I just kept on kicking the ball far where he can get the ball. ... It was a good game for him.”

Schenberg scored the first, third and fourth goals for the Panthers (6-2, 2-0 Region 4), who fell behind 1-0 after six minutes. Schenberg’s goals tied the game at 1 and extended Saegertown’s leads to 3-1 and 4-2.

But above all, it was Schenberg’s ability to slow down and calmly beat the goalkeeper that helped the junior score three times. During a breakway in the 62nd minute, Schenberg touched the ball past the Dragons’ keeper to put the Panthers up 3-1.

“I’m not sure what got into him (Schenberg) because he was the one we were trying to get to relax in front of the goal,” Saegertown head coach Ryan Schenck said. “Instead of giving it a whack, he placed it and he put it where it needed to be. There’s nobody there, it rolls in the net. It counts just the same as if it busts the back of the net.”

But way before Schenberg achieved the hat trick, Saegertown was down 1-0 after Warren’s Joseph Bell scored in the sixth minute. How the Panthers responded — with a score just about 10 minutes later from Schenberg — is what made all the difference on Wednesday.

“This is one of the traditionally good teams,” Schenck said about Warren. “The guys came out a little lax, gave up an early goal. But they didn’t fold under the pressure and came back and got one back. They just kept battling and actually started scoring goals, which we’ve had trouble doing lately.”

The game was tied at halftime, but the Panthers entered the second half with extra energy. Mattocks was at midfield when he pushed the ball up to Schenberg, who had to slow down a bit since Warren’s keeper raced out of the goal in defense. A few moments later, after a Saegertown shot was saved, Dillan Lang punched in the rebound to put the Panthers up 2-1 in the 45th minute.

Freshman Peter Mattocks assisted Saegertown’s third goal, which was Schenberg’s second, in the 62nd minute. But back came the Dragons (4-3, 1-1), who made it 3-2 following Liam Boger’s score from 28 yards out on a direct kick in the 69th minute.

The one-goal difference didn’t last long once Schenberg completed the hat trick off an assist by Lang in the 73rd minute.

Schenberg was the big star on offense, but it was Saegertown’s defense which also played a huge role in Wednesday’s victory.

“We made mistakes and a team like Warren will punish you for mistakes,” Schenck said. “But we also covered for each other very well — Greg (Bras) and Jeff (Mattocks) in particular coming out of the middle to cover for the outside backs.”

Warren, which opened the Region 4 schedule with a 3-1 win over Bradford on Monday, scored just once after its early goal. Saegertown keeper Ross Ferguson turned away six of the Dragons’ eight shots on goal, and the defense wouldn’t allow any more quality shots than that.

“We just had to control them,” Jeff Mattocks said. “Instead of diving for the ball and trying to win the ball, we just delayed the ball. We let them have the ball and then waited for the right time to get the ball from them.”

The Panthers also had eight shots on goal but lost the corner kick battle 7-3.

The Panthers have a quick turnover. They host Conneaut today for their third game in four days — all at home.

The Eagles beat the Panthers 1-0 on Sept. 10 thanks to a goal that was scored in the final minute. Conneaut, meanwhile, is coming off a 2-0 loss to Mercer on Wednesday.

Jeff Mattocks expects his squad to be even more prepared for Conneaut this time around.

“We are going to go really hard (today),” he said. “We want to win the game because last game we played (against Conneaut), we did not play at our best. We were kind of slacking over the ball.”

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