Central Mountain, Lewistown tie in double OT

MILL HALL - It was the perfect setting. A Saturday night - the field in that perfect damp texture. And of course, the atmosphere of the fans.

It was a game so perfect that it couldn't be decided in regulation play. Instead, the result after two overtimes was a tie.

This 100-minute stalemate started even before the match between Central Mountain and Lewistown. It started in the locker room with a speech by Wildcat head coach Abe Stauffer.

"We have to treat this game as if it was a playoff game," Stauffer said, "We have the cold weather and the support of the fans behind us. So, we need to take advantage of this and go out there and play hard."

And boy, did both teams play hard.

In the first half, the Wildcats outshot the Panthers 10-7. Both teams were knocking on the door at almost every position. Whether it was a nice pass here or a throw-in or corner kick there, it was constant back and forth hard-nosed soccer from both teams.

Then, in the second half during the 53rd minute, Lewistown came so close to scoring but Central Mountain goal keeper Mike Walizer had other plans by making a tremendous sliding save to keep the score deadlocked.

Walizer finished the night with a clean sheet and 19 saves. The most important save of the night came in the first overtime when Lewistown's forward Thomas Walters broke through the defense and fired off a laser that was snatched by Walizer, keeping the game knotted at zero. Walizer's counterpart was Lewistown goalie Christian Knouse, who also kept a clean sheet and finished the game with 13 saves. In the second half, it was all defense with barely any shots to put this thrilling game into overtime.

"It is always tough coming here to play," Lewistown head coach Greg Kanagy said. "It was already tough for the kids coming off no rest in three days and forcing a long game, but credit both sides in a well-played match."

With the tie, Lewistown stays strong with an overall record of 9-1-2 and a league record of 9-0-2.

"With over half of the season done, we need to come through and finish strong," Kanagy added.

"We played a 100 minutes of great soccer. We did everything right and everyone on the field played great," Stauffer said about his team's performance.

With the tie, Central Mountain has an overall record of 6-5-2 and a league record of 6-3-2.

"At the beginning of the season, we started off slow, but in our last four games we haven't lost," Central Mountain captain Tyler Walker commented. "With the season more than halfway done, it's crunch time. We played our best game (tonight) and we are carrying that into the second half of the season. We are very confident and we all believe we can have a strong finish to the end of the season."