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Yingling's PK opens floodgates as Gettysburg routs Biglerville


Biglerville managed to bottle up Gettysburg's high-powered offense for the first 30 minutes, but once the Warriors got on the board, the Canners could do little to slow them down.

A penalty kick goal by Gettysburg senior midfielder Adam Yingling sent the Warriors on their way to a 6-0 victory in the first round of the District 3 Class AA boys' soccer tournament on Monday night at Warrior Stadium.

Gettysburg (20-0) moves on to a Thursday quarterfinal matchup with East Pennsboro, a 4-1 winner over Annville-Cleona. The site and time have not been announced.

Yingling's goal, his 27th of the year, came after the Canners were whistled for a hand ball in the box with 9:43 left in the first half. He went lower left corner for the marker.

"Our strategy in the first half worked fantastically," Biglerville head coach Jebb Nelson said. "I thought we got a bad call on the hand ball that gave them a penalty kick. It looked like it hit one of their guys, not one of ours."

Connor Weikert doubled Gettysburg's lead with 1:31 to play until intermission. Zach Shoemaker played a long ball on a direct kick that hit a Biglerville defender. It dropped right to Weikert for a perfect chance to finish, and he didn't miss it.

"I don't think it was overconfidence coming into the match, because we didn't lack energy," Gettysburg co-head coach Ian Hancock said of his team's slow start. "We needed to make better decisions in the second half, and we did that."

The Warriors created a multitude of opportunities early in the second half, only to have Canners keeper Mitchell Thomas deny them — if they made it that far. Centerback Connor Griest often flagged them down before they could reach Thomas.

Biglerville (14-8) kept the match within reach until Yingling set up his brother Matt for a pair of goals just 74 seconds apart that made the margin 4-0 with 15:39 left.

"We struggled mentally early in the match and played a little lackadaisical," Matt Yingling said. "We had to clean that up and pass the ball better. We played more patiently in the second half and that opened things up for us."

Gettysburg added a pair of goals in the final nine minutes to cap the scoring with Drew Wivell scoring unassisted with 8:14 left and Jeremy Allinger adding the finishing touches off an assist from Cade Wilhelm with 0:31 to play.

"I had to move Connor up the field from center back to try to score and that cost us some goals late," Nelson said. "But there's no difference in losing 2-0 or 6-0. You lose either way."

Gettysburg held an 11-0 advantage in shots on goal and a 7-1 edge in corners.

The Canners' best chance to score came midway through the first half when Chris Cellucci popped a ball over Gettysburg's Yanni Tassou as the sophomore keeper charged off his line. The ball got over Tassou, but also went over the open net.

"I don't fault Chris for trying that or missing it," Nelson said. "He works on it all the time and has finished it before. It just didn't work out that time."

Biglerville00—0

Gettysburg24—6

First half — 1. Get, Adam Yingling (PK), 9:43. 2. Get, Connor Weikert, 1:31.

Second half — 3. Get, Matt Yingling (A. Yingling), 16:53. 4. Get, M. Yingling (A. Yingling), 15:39. 5. Get, Drew Wivell, 8:14. 6. Get, Jeremy Allinger (Cade Wilhelm), 0:31.

Shots on goal — Big 0, Get 11

Corners — Big 1, Get 7

Goalies — Big, Mitchell Thomas (5 saves), Get, Yanni Tassou (0 saves), Matt Balas (0 saves)