ALMEDIA - The seedings may have said that Southern Columbia was the top seed in the District 4 Class A boys field, but the actual play on the field said something else.
Bloomsburg, seeded fourth, totally dominated the Tigers in the district semifinal Tuesday at Central Columbia, bombarding
Southern with four goals in a period of 9:59 late in the first half on the way to a 7-1 win.
The Panthers (17-4), who will play East Juniata, a 3-0 winner over Sayre in the other semifinal, for the district title, could have scored even more goals with better luck. Their offensive front line of Jonathan Nixon, Tristan Wright and Lance Klingler had numerous strong shots that Tiger goalie Tyler Tomaschik either saved or that bounced hard off Southern defenders.
Bloomsburg outshot the Tigers (14-2-3) 25-5 and had a 4-1 advantage in corners, scoring on two of them. Klingler had a hat trick and added an assist, Wright, a 100-career goal scorer, had two goals and assisted on one, and Nixon had a goal and assist. Marc DeLucca assisted on a pair of goals.
"Bloomsburg has a very athletic team and a great system," said Southern coach Dave Hall. "We had hoped to keep it a little closer and when they scored that first quick goal, I think it actually calmed us down a little and we played them even for the next 20 minutes or so."
Wright scored off an assist from DeLucca 4:30 into the game after he had already shot just wide left about 30 seconds earlier. But the Tigers bounced back well. Connor Swank boomed a direct kick at the 5:48 mark which just missed, and the Tigers kept the game at 1-0 for most of the rest of the half, including a stop of Nixon on a breakaway in front of the net by Matthew Haupt.
But sooner or later, the dam was going to burst the way the Panthers were peppering shots. Klingler scored an unassisted goal at 29:06, and Nixon found him on a corner kick for another goal at 34:51. Klingler scored his third goal in a span of 8:47 with an assist from Wright, and Wright put an exclamation point on the half, scoring off a corner kick from Conner McCarthy at 38:51.
"The kids knew it was going to be tough to win at halftime," Hall said. "But there was no yelling at each other. They wanted to go out as a team. I told them that was the way to go out in the second half, to just go out and play hard, and that's what they did."
Wright scored again just 1:51 into the second half, with an assist from Klingler, but Southern broke into the scoring column less than five minutes later on a goal by Seth Joseph.
"I'm glad we got the goal," Hall said. "The kids wanted it and I think they picked it up after that."
Nixon scored Bloomsburg's last goal off an assist from DeLucca at 48:26, and not long after, Bloomsburg coach Michael McGarry began substituting liberally.
Game Summary
Bloomsburg 5 2 - 7
Southern 0 1 - 1
B - Tristan Wright (Mark DeLucca), 4:30
B - Lance Klingler, unassistedm 29:06
B - Klingler (Jonathan Nixon), 34:51
B - Klingler (Wright), 37:53
B - Wright (Conner McCarthy), 38:05
B - Wright (Klingler), 41:51
SC - Seth Joseph, unassisted, 46:45
B - Nixon (DeLucca), 48:26
Shots - Bloomsburg 25, Southern 5. Corner kicks - Bloomsburg 4, Southern 1. Saves - Bloomsburg (Liam Glowaski) 2, Southern (Tyler Tomaschik) 12