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Caton logs hat trick in return, as Bellefonte boys soccer rolls past P-O in opener

By KENNY VARNER 4 min read

BELLEFONTE – Mother Nature made her official arrival Monday night as thunder and lightning storms rolled through Bellefonte, delaying the home opener for the Bellefonte boys soccer team as they hosted Philipsburg-Osceola.

After an hour delay, it would be the Red Raiders that would rumble through the Mounties defense en route to a 10-1 victory. The Red Raiders outshot the Mounties 21-7. They also led on corner opportunities by a 6-1 advantage.

"I think the rain delay helped us. They were really hungry to get out and start playing. They were ready to play. And then with the rain delay, they were just like a bunch of caged animals. They were ready to go and came out. We had two goals in the first two or three minutes there," said Bellefonte coach Scott Martz. "That set the pace and set the tone for them. But it was nice to see multiple guys score tonight, too."

After missing last season, Seth Caton was back as he finished the night with a hat trick.

"Seth came back. It was first time back from an injury. He didn’t get to play last year for us," said Martz. "He had three goals tonight. So it was nice to get him back in the swing again."

Bellefonte's offense was alive and well in the first 10 minutes.

Caton led off the game as he stood staring down Mounties goalie Jonathan Thompson for a penalty kick attempt. Caton sent it past Thompson for the first Red Raider goal of the season.

Teammate Cole Stabinger plastered a second goal just minutes later on an unassisted blast at the 35:33 mark. And before Philipsburg-Osceola could settle in Bellefonte got back on the scoreboard as Caton again blasted a shot at the 30:25 mark for his second goal.

The goals and the momentum continued as Bellefonte was back on the scoreboard less than two minutes later. Keegan Timblin logged an unassisted goal at 28:52, making it a 4-0 contest.

Defensively, Bellefonte used its relentless offense to keep the ball from crossing midfield for much of the first half. Both defenses kept the game quiet until the game fell under the 10-minute mark.

At 26:31, Jamin Ondraski added yet another goal to keep the home team crowd cheering. Wesley Cook upped the Red Raiders lead as he scored via a Stabinger assist at 7:53.

Caton posted his hat trick on the last goal of the half as he blasted yet another unassisted goal into the back of the net. This time it was at the 6:45 mark.

In the second half, the Red Raiders continued where it left off, posting three more goals.

With nothing but pride on the line, the Mounties were able to end the shut out as Damian Vaughn's unassisted goal at 13:00 ended it.

Rounding out the scoring was Bellefonte's Paxton Breon as he hit on an unassisted goal at 3:00.

"I told the guys at halftime, ‘Starters are going to start, so let’s work for one more goal, then I gotta get you guys out,’ because we do have two more games (this week)," said Martz. “The subs came in and did an awesome job in there for us tonight. Again, we had a lot of freshmen that were out there tonight, and they played good minutes for us."

Next up for Bellefonte is Penns Valley on Wednesday.

Bellefonte 10, Philipsburg-Osceola 1

PO 0 1 – 1

BE 7 3 – 10

First half scoring:

B – Seth Caton (unassisted), 37:22. B – Cole Stabinger (unassisted), 35:33. B – Caton (unassisted), 30:25. B – Keegan Timblin (unassisted), 28:52. B – Jamin Ondraski (unassisted), 26:31. B – Wesley Cook (Stabinger), 7:53. B- Caton (unassisted), 6:45.

Second half scoring:

B – Jamin Ondraski (Lincoln Aberegg), 35:07. B – Pryce Smith (unassisted), 24:55. PO – Damian Vaughn (unassisted), 13:00. B – Paxton Breon (unassisted), 3:00.

Shots on goal: BE 21, PO 7. Corners: BE 6, PO 1.

Saves: Jonathan Thompson (PO) 6. Gavin Merrill (BE) 3, Cam Ripka (BE) 1.

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