Tulpehocken stung by late penalty kick, denied second straight district title
By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
HERSHEY — Brayden Evans guessed right. He was a few inches away from making this night about something other than a referee’s call.
That’s the thing about penalty kicks. They’re decisive. They must be handed out judiciously. A well-placed attempt can’t be stopped even by an All-Berks keeper.
Evans tried his best.
“I wasn’t far,” he said. “I was about a hand away.”
Third-seeded Tulpehocken’s bid to repeat as District 3 Class 1A boys soccer champion was essentially ended by a whistle. No. 1 Camp Hill’s PK with 3:47 left produced a 2-1 victory at Hersheypark Stadium Wednesday.
Anything less than gold was going to sting. This stung worse.
“The boys pour so much into it,” Tulpehocken coach Trevor Brown said. “That’s why it burns even more. You want your boys to decide the game and that’s it.”
The penalty kick was awarded after Zack Welfer fell while barreling through the box. Camp Hill’s junior tried to split defenders Josh Risser and Gael Velazquez as the ball bounced toward Evans. The keeper scooped it up and play was stopped.
No one had a better view than Evans.
“I don’t think it was a foul, personally,” he said. “We had two guys coming to the ball to defend. The dude tripped over either his own feet or the back of our player’s foot. I don’t think it was a good call at all.”
There was still hope. Stopping a PK isn’t easy but Evans gave Tulpehocken a better chance than most. Evans went diving to his right and narrowly missed Marko Balic’s shot inside the post.
If the attempt wasn’t perfect, it would have been denied.
Brown, who didn’t receive an explanation from the officials in the immediate aftermath of the call, talked with them for a minute or two after time expired.
“I don’t even think it’s a foul,” Brown said. “My two defenders were there. Their player tried to jump between them and tripped as the ball was rolling to my keeper. That’s what I saw. Obviously the stripes saw it differently.”
Tulpehocken (16-5-2) struck first in the rematch of last year’s final, which the Trojans won 4-0. Erick Sanchez scored from Nico Paul-Chandia with 5:52 left in the first half.
There were more chances that Tulpehocken missed. The Trojans’ failure to extend the lead ultimately cost them.
“We should have buried at least one if not two more and we didn’t,” Brown said. “Now we’re going home with silver instead of gold.”
One goal is usually enough for Tulpehocken, which has 15 shutouts and allowed just nine goals in 22 games entering the final.
Camp Hill (18-3) broke through when Liam Raney redirected Cole Nelson’s pass with 22:02 left in regulation. It was the first goal the Trojans allowed in this tournament.
Tulpehocken still liked its chances at that point. It wasn’t going to be easy to penetrate the Trojans’ defense a second time and Evans loomed as a potential difference maker if the trophy was decided by penalty kicks.
It was. Camp Hill was the only team given one.
The medal ceremony was more angry than sad. Tulpehocken felt like it was short-changed. Brown said this result will be “fuel for our fire.”
“It’s extremely hard to accept,” Evans said. “But we’ve got more games to play. There’s a bigger chip to win now. We’ve got to go and win states. We have another mission to accomplish.”
