Dutch uses his head to put Interboro ahead for good
GLENOLDEN — The pregame speech from the Penn Wood sideline Tuesday night invoked the memories of this time last fall, when a loss to Interboro cost the Patriots a shot at the postseason.
In the Bucs’ huddle, the memories of heartache were fresher, from an overtime thriller they lost just three weeks ago.
Whatever the specific message barked out into each huddle, the larger reality remains unspoken: When Interboro and Penn Wood have met on the soccer pitch in recent years, classic grudge matches with dire postseason implications generally ensue.
Tuesday night’s installment didn’t fail to deliver on that count.
The Bucs scored four unanswered goals, including the go-ahead tally in the 69th minute courtesy of a Kyle Dutch header, to earn a 4-2 win.
With the schools splitting the season series, the Del Val title would officially be split between them should they win out in their two remaining league games.
It’s the same script as played out last year. This season, Penn Wood won this first game, a 6-5 OT thriller, before Interboro exacted revenge. Last year, thanks to the old playoff format, whoever won the second matchup earned the Del Val’s automatic berth to the District One Class AAA playoffs, the rather arbitrary way in which Penn Wood’s season ended.
As the district has gone to a points format this year, there is no automatic bid, meaning the implications Tuesday were all about the power rankings, a picture both teams are squarely in the thick of.
That meant plenty was still on the line, so the pressure lumped on when Penn Wood’s Hassan Warritay scored twice in the game’s first 24 minutes to put the Patriots up 2-0 was considerable.
In this rivalry, though, it wasn’t anything new.
“It’s great. It brings out your best,’ Interboro forward Foday Kayateh said. “If you see a teammate fighting, you want to keep up with them. That’s how you have to push up your intensity and stuff. It’s nice out there.’
“No one really yells at each other,’ Dutch said. “We stay pretty composed, and we do really well with that. We don’t get down on ourselves.’
The Bucs (9-3, 4-1) started the comeback three minutes before halftime when a Penn Wood handball in the box sent Diego Lopez to the spot to bury a penalty kick and send the teams to half at 2-1.
Befitting the chaos these games generally engender, the Bucs were awarded another PK just three minutes into the second half on a borderline call drawn by Willy Lopez. This time, goalkeeper Kenny Ngaima was equal to Diego Lopez’s attempt.
That merely delayed Interboro’s storm back. Kayateh put the teams on level terms in the 58th minute, Diego Lopez’s original shot stopped by Ngaima, but the goalkeeper could only palm the ball into the path of Kayateh for him to blast into the net.
On one of Interboro’s eight corner kicks, Dutch came up with the decisive goal, heading home Josh Encarnacion’s perfectly placed delivery.
“I’d been standing outside the box, but this time Josh pointed to me,’ Dutch said. “So I stood back post and he served it to me, perfect ball, and I headed it in.’
The Patriots (10-2, 4-1) didn’t get close to an equalizer late on as the game got chippier, but Kayateh pounced on a defensive error late on to make it a two-goal margin.
“It’s really disappointing that we fought hard and we couldn’t come out with the win,’ Warritay said. “We played our hearts out, and it’s just a tough game. We came here with a mindset to win and seal the Del Val, but unfortunately, they were the better team. We just didn’t play that well.’
