Through: Bill Beckner Jr.

Wednesday 6 October 2021 | 4:00 p.m.

Throughout the football season, Pennylvania Soccer and Hudl.com scour the state in search of the best scoring goals.

When the website saw Daniel Sassak’s dropper for Belle Vernon that stunned Trinity, the game went straight to the top.

Pennsylvania Soccer named him the # 1 goal of the week in their top 5.

Sassak rebounded from a corner kick, refocused around the 12-yard line, unleashed a defenseman and fired an up-left shot to beat Trinity, 2-1, in overtime.

James Weir Stadium, known as “The Beach”, has become the hotspot this season. In addition to Sassak’s goal, football star Devin Whitlock scored a touchdown as the Leopards beat Thomas Jefferson, 28-21. The video for that piece has also gone viral.

Sassak equalizes the record

Sassak has set himself the goal of climbing the Belle Vernon record books and he does not disappoint.

With his hat trick in a 7-0 win over Ringgold, he brought his career goal tally to 89, tying Markello Apodiakos’ program mark. Sassak has said he hopes to be the school’s first 100-goal scorer.

Jeannette makes the playoffs

Having had one of her best seasons, Jeannette landed a playoff berth for the first time in men’s soccer.

The Jayhawks, led by sophomore Jordan Taylor and a surge of new talent, are tied with Serra Catholic in Section 2-A at 7-2, 4-2. Jeannette has separated from Serra this season.

Jeannette’s program began in 1997. The 2013 team has the most wins, with eight, but failed to advance to the playoffs.

By the way, Taylor has 27 goals, which equals Tyler Elliot’s school-season record set in 2018. Taylor has 53 career goals.

Visco scores for PT

It’s not often that a goalie scores a goal, but it can happen.

Ask AJ Visco.

The Penn-Trafford goalkeeper took advantage of a rare opportunity last week for a unique moment of the seniors night.

Visco told coach Sotiri Tsourekis he wanted to score a goal for the first time in his high school career.

When the Warriors took a penalty, Visco had his chance.

“I couldn’t convince him to put me in breach because he didn’t want to risk me getting hurt,” said Visco, “but he told me if we had a penalty opportunity I would have it. would grab.

“At the start of the second half, one of our wingers suffered a foul in the box, so I had the opportunity to shoot from the penalty spot and I was able to score.”

Penn-Trafford defeated Connellsville, 5-0.

Playoff format

WPIAL will use a format similar to the one it implemented last fall for the football qualifiers, said league executive director Amy Scheuneman. The highest seeds will play home matches for the first and second rounds, “provided the school facilities meet the minimum requirements to host the competition”, which refers to turf, seating etc. .

Neutral venues will be considered for the semi-finals, while the championships are scheduled to return to Highmark Stadium in Station Square in Pittsburgh on November 5-6.

Elimination teams

A number of Westmoreland teams secured playoff spots heading into the final week of the WPIAL regular season.

Qualifiers to date include Norwin and Penn-Trafford in Class 4A, Belle Vernon and Franklin Regional in 3A and Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette in Class A.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Bill by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .

Key words: Beautiful Vernon, Franklin Regional, Greensburg CC, Jeannette, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland