Faith Christian Academy handles Moravian, returns to PIAA-1A title game

NOCKAMIXON >> Faith Christian Academy was in a familiar position Tuesday night – a mid-November state playoff game against Moravian Academy at Palisades High School.

Last year, FCA won a hard-fought match, 2-1, in the quarterfinals on the way to a state championship.

This year, 367 days later, Faith dominated and walked away with a 4-0 win in the PIAA-1A state semifinals.

“(Moravian was) the state champion in 2019,” Faith sophomore forward Colin Moyer said. “We knocked them off. We didn’t want to get knocked off by them. It’s kind of a rivalry. It felt good to win 4-0. We played one of our best games.”

“(Moravian is) a very good team,” Faith coach Ryan Clymer said. “They had a very good year, a lot of great players over there. Every time we take the field we do not want to be out-worked. My midfield likes to work – they love to grind and our offense is starting to work. When that happens it’s a dangerous combination.”

The Lions will have a chance to defend their state championship Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Hershey Park Stadium against Winchester Thurston.

Moyer dominated the first half. He hit the post in the sixth minute before scoring two goals – one in the 18th and another in the 34th – to give the Lions a 2-0 advantage at halftime.

“I noticed they kept pinching their outside defender,” he said. “I was just floating out wide, getting the ball from the center-mid, who was Marcus Pringle, and cutting in.”

On the first goal, which proved to be the game-winner, Pringle made a play in the midfield to send the ball forward. Artur Gabel gained possession and found Moyer, who turned and fired from the top of the box. His shot found the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game.

The second goal came after a Moravian mistake. Faith’s Peyton Curry stepped up from his defensive position to put the ball deep into Moravian’s end. A defender played the ball back to his keeper, who mistimed his kick. Moyer sprinted into the box, won the race to the ball and poked it into an open net while being knocked to the ground for a 2-0 lead.

“I was thinking I have to score this,” he said. “It was one-on-one with the goalkeeper. One of the defenders caught up to me, but I just put it in.”

While Moyer was scoring goals, the Faith defense was getting stops. Goalkeeper JR Roberts made three of his seven saves in the first half, including a diving stop less than 30 seconds after the Lions took their 1-0 lead.

“(Roberts) made three or four good saves tonight,” Clymer said. “When that happens – that gives confidence to the back line and the back line keeps playing harder. Everything positive builds off of (those saves).”

Defender Hank Thompson made a big play in the middle of the first half. With Faith ahead, 1-0, in the 28th minute, Moravian generated one of their few transition opportunities of the game. Moravian had numbers heading into the box, but Thompson ended the threat when he stepped up and blocked the shot, sending the ball across midfield.

Roberts made two big saves early in the second half when the score was 2-0. He rejected a 24-yard free kick in the 52nd minute before denying a near-post deflection on a corner kick in the 55th.

The Lions added two goals in the final 19 minutes that were nearly identical. Pringle lofted corner kicks high and into the box. Kieran Rea headed the first into the net and Christopher Evans did the same.

“I don’t know how many assists (Pringle) has for the season, but it has to be up there as far as a record for one single player in a season for assists,” Clymer said. “He’s probably 20, maybe, I’ll count sometime this week, but he puts the ball wherever he wants it. When you have 6-3, 6-4 guys that are athletic and can head it home, it’s dangerous. Our offense is starting to hit it’s stride at the right time.”

“(Pringle) has a really god corner kick,” Moyer added, “and we have a lot of height on our team. It really helps with corner kicks, we can score on a lot of them.”