Father Judge squeezes past Lansdale Catholic in PCL semifinals

PHILADELPHIA >> Abou Cheriff scored the goal that both teams were scratching and clawing to get, providing the difference maker in a 1-0 Father Judge victory over Lansdale Catholic Wednesday night in the Philadelphia Catholic League Semifinals.

Cheriff, on an assist from Dane Pizzaro, scored with 15 minutes to play in a hard-fought contest on the turf at Ramp Playground.

“It feels real good,” Cheriff said of the victory, which sends Judge to the PCL Final Saturday, back at Ramp Playground. “We just played our game and it worked for us.”

The LC Crusaders made one last surge in the final minute, working the ball into Judge’s end, but Judge was able to clear it as the final seconds ran out. LC’s season is not over though, as now it prepares for districts.

The goal by Cheriff gave Judge the edge it been working to gain for the first 65 minutes.

“When we got that, I knew the game was ours,” Cheriff said. “We learned to stay calm under pressure, and we did pretty well with that.

“It feels good (to be moving onto the final). We’ll get some sleep and get ready for a battle.”

It was quite a run for the LC Crusaders, who defied their No. 7 seed.

“We played the game we wanted to play,” LC coach Casey Farrell said. “We were a little bit more creative, a little bit more dangerous, but (Judge) has a couple guys up top that are happy to run after long balls, and they jump on your mistakes. We made a couple mistakes.

“One of their top players ended up with the ball in front of the net and he’s gonna hit that 10 out of 10 times. I can’t fault us. The fact that we were a seven seed, the fact that we lost two starters in the past month (Matt Schaefer and Jack Edling), I am so proud of these guys. No one should be hanging their heads.”

The way LC fought underlined the growth of the team in recent weeks.

“A month ago, if we give up a goal (with 15 minutes to play), they probably put two or three more goals on us,” Farrell said. “The fact that we battled back and were still able to threaten them is beautiful to see and it makes you feel good as a coach.”

Senior captains Will Kelly, Eric Fernandez and Alex Kulp helped lead LC – Kelly and Fernandez in the midfield and Kulp on the defensive end. The Crusaders now get ready for another run.

“Playing in the PCL when you’re a 2A school, against teams like Roman and Judge and La Salle and Ryan, you run the gauntlet,” Farrell said. “It really prepares us for a state run.”