Juniata outlasts spunky performance by Bellefonte in boys soccer action

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: September 20, 2019

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – After being outshot for the entire first half, Bellefonte’s offense made the most of its limited opportunity, trailing just 3-2 at the half against Juniata.

However, a quick strike by Juniata to open the second half was enough to give the Indians a 6-2 victory in boys soccer action.

“This was our third game this week.They are a little bit tired right now but I thought they played well tonight,” said Bellefonte coach Scott Martz. “They came out and scored right away. It kind of gave them the momentum a little bit. Sometimes we get up in a game or tie a game and then allow a goal real quick. They steal the momentum back from us.

“We are working through things defensively. We lost a couple guys due to some injuries but we have some newer guys back there and working the kinks out. That’s all it was tonight.”

In the first, the Red Raiders we’re battling back and forth trying to secure momentum.

However, it would be the Indians that would take control, pushing it down into the Red Raiders back -third.

Bellefonte stopped a run of Juniata’s and turned into gold as Dan Persiko sent a blast to the Indians goal, making it 1-0 with 34-minutes left in the half.

“When you give up only three or four shots in a game and give up two goals that is not good. Our back four tonight did not perform to their ability. We expect a lot more out of them,” said Juniata coach Jared Byler. “They definitely heard it at halftime and took what we said to heart and so I’m looking for our back four to rebound Saturday against Tyrone for sure.”

But Juniata’s transition game put them back in the Bellefonte end as the Indians continued to pound the ball at Red Raiders goalie Harrison Herr.

After sending the Indians back empty handed for the first 15 minutes, Juniata blasted its first goal when Zane Hazard stepped in front of the goalie and blasted one past him, tying it at 24:26.

The Indians took lead at 13:07 on a Bryce Rush shot that just cleared the goal line. He was assisted by Stuart Dare.

But Bellefonte continued to battle, tying it up at two on a second Persiko goal with 5:31.

Juniata’s offense made on more charge at the goal before the intermission.

They were successful in taking back the lead when Barrett Walters hit a shot with just 1:28 left on the clock.

Coming out of the intermission, Juniata struck quickly when Tad Shellenberger of a Rush pass took it home, upping their lead to 4-2.

From there, the Bellefonte defense played strong throughout, holding the Indians scoreless for almost 30 minutes.

As the clock wound down to under 10 minutes Shellenberger sealed the deal with two unassisted break away goals in less than a minute, securing the victory.

“They (Juniata) had some beautiful shots. But I think we allowed those shots by miscues on defense,” Martz said. “But they’re getting better. They are talking more. Offensively, I challenged those guys to battle through some balls. I thought they did. They had some shots. Overall, I told them I wasn’t disappointed because we did some things well. There are things we just need to work on yet.”

Bellefonte is back home Saturday morning as it hosts Central Mountain.

Juniata hosts Tyrone on Saturday.

Juniata 6, Bellefonte 2

JUN 3 3 – 6

BEL 2 0 – 2

Scoring

First half

BEL – Dan Persiko unassisted, 34:00.

JUN – Zane Hazard unassisted, 24:26.

JUN – Bryce Rush assisted by Stuart Dare, 13:07.

BEL – Persiko unassisted, 5:31.

JUN – Barrett Walters unassisted, 1:28.