Falcon boys’ soccer team wins MAPL championship

By: Sean Moylan
   The Peddie boys’ varsity soccer team’s 2-1 overtime road win over Blair on Saturday was for something much bigger than just annual bragging rights.
   "We won a big game versus Blair which was good for a lot of reasons. It’s an old rivalry. And because of that win we won the MAPL Championship. We were 4-1 in the league," said Peddie head coach Pete McClellan, whose club only lost to Lawrenceville in the MAPL division this season.
   90 seconds into overtime Peddie’s MIke Blake ended the drama with a goal inside the far post which was assisted by Billy Schuler. Earlier, in the second half, Blake had assisted on Dan Garfing’s header into the net, which evened the score at 1-1 versus Blair.
   Although Peddie outshot Blair 28-3 and dominated in several other areas of the game, Falcons’ goalie Tyler Cabot hardly went untested.
   "On the one goal they had he (Cabot) didn’t stand a chance," said McClellan. "On their other two shots, Tyler made diving saves."
   While he didn’t actually score, Schuler, who ended the season with 22 goals and four assists, gave yet another strong performance.
   "BIlly Schuler was a big part of the game and in any game. Billy was a factor, even when he doesn’t score," said McClellan, whose superstar always is creative and attracts attention.
   Peddie’s 1-0 win over Mercersburg at Hightstown on November 5th was a similar game in that Peddie dominated and took a lot of shots, but won by just one goal, which was scored by Schuler.
   But this year, Schuler had plenty of support. Blake compiled a team-high 10 assists while Tim Lee scored seven times. More importantly, Peddie will graduate just two starters, Belai Lencho and Matt Seidner, from its talented squad. This year, Peddie played a brutal schedule and still managed to post a 10-7-1 record.
   "After starting the season 3-5-1, we made a comeback in the second half and had a 7-2 record. The kids made a turn-around because we worked hard, got better and then we were awarded with a league championship," said McClellan, who did a fine job of keeping his team together whenever it faced adversity.