Sele lifts Penn Wood into second round once again

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YEADON >> As the ball looped high into the box, Varnie Sele Jr. planned exactly what he would do.

The diminutive Penn Wood forward tracked the ball tapped on by teammate Luseni Nyei, saw Downingtown East goalkeeper Dan Good rushing forward, factored in his low center of gravity and tabulated the equation.

“It was high up,” Sele said. “The way I wanted to hit the ball, I didn’t hit it that way. I wanted to hit it on the ground because (Good) was coming (off his line). I really wanted to put the ball on the ground because there was no way he could get there.”

A minute change in the ball’s trajectory meant Sele’s plan fell apart. And that’s how it went just perfectly.

Sele rocketed a volley into the top corner of the net, then his Patriots teammates battened down the hatches in the face of incessant pressure to secure a 1-0 win in the first round of the District 1 Class 4A tournament under the lights at Kerr Field.

It’s the second straight season that the Patriots (13-4-2) have banished the Cougars, last year coming in an afternoon fixture at Ardmore Avenue Elementary in penalty kicks, 4-2, in a game that finished 1-1 after extra time. The reward for the Patriots, this time a 12-seed, is another date at West Chester Henderson, the fifth seed in the district, Thursday. The Warriors dispatched Penn Wood, 5-0, last year.

Sele was deprived of any feelings of déjà vu, having spent last year at Motivation High School in Philadelphia. But the speedy forward, who proudly declares his dream of playing professional soccer, quickly learned about Penn Wood’s program and wanted to join a team that has now won playoff games in consecutive seasons after just one previous postseason win in school history.

With his first taste of playoff action Tuesday, Sele vowed to have a positive impact, then duly delivered.

“Before we started the game, I made a promise that I was going to score,” he said. “So I had to do what I had to do. And there was no option. I just had to score because it came to me.”

The move started with midfield dynamo Andrew Nmah, who dominated play in both directions. He found space down the right wing on a counterattack, and while that sortie was repelled, the clearance only went as far as right back Talus Gaymore.

Gaymore threaded a pass to Nyei on the top of the 18, and he popped up a ball that Sele got his foot under. Not exactly to plan, but exactly what was needed with eight minutes left to halftime.

From there, it came down to the Patriots withstanding the unremitting attacks of Downingtown East (10-8-1). The bruising and chaotic affair took a contentious turn when East forward Zack Stata caught a stray boot to the face in the penalty area in the 35th minute. There was no malicious intent, coming on a follow through of a clearance. But the letter of the law dictated a penalty and a yellow card at the least, instead fueling four yellow cards for dissent to the Cougars.

Penn Wood’s central defense pairing of Carlos D’Anjollel and Philip Washington and left back John Kpanka repeatedly quelled threats, particularly after Gaymore headed to the bench going head-to-head with AJ Carreiro to put the forward off on a header in the second minute of the second half. In the same sequence, Solomon Kamara slid in to clear an East chance off the line at the far post.

Kamara provided two other desperation clearances in the second half — deflecting an open Riley Burke shot over the bar on a defensive break down in the 69th, then sliding to clear a dangerous moment on a Zach Delone long throw in the 75th.

“I always say, I’m a goalie, too,” Kamara said. “I’m the second goalie. I’m used to calling off the goalie. So any time I’m at right back, left back, I know I have to run behind to cover. So it wasn’t that hard because I got it in my head already that I could do it and I knew I had to do it for my team.”

“We were just trying to hold them off and try to play them out into the wide (areas) and try to get a cross in so we could score,” Downingtown midfielder Cesar May said. “We really couldn’t play in the middle because of how bad the field was, but you can’t blame it on the field because it’s the same for them.”

Goodwill Agbaadem, who stopped a penalty and won the shootout last year, made five saves. He collected a Chris Windecker shot that deflected off Nate Majer on the way to the goalie’s gloves. He also assertively charged off the line on several occasions to avoid danger.

Windecker headed over the bar on a second ball after a corner with 11 minutes to play, and Nmah got just enough of a Stata header with five to go to direct it into the side netting.

That steadfast defense allowed Sele’s goal to stand and kept the dream that sprouted on his first day with the team to continue for at least one more game.

“I’m really overjoyed,” Sele said. “To be honest with you, I don’t know what to say. When I entered the school, a couple of my friends, they said this is the dream. Not just districts, but they want to go to states. And we can make it.”

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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