Severna Park Stifles Broadneck 2-0 In Boys Regional Championship

The Severna Park Falcons were able to score just before halftime and then hold off a furious Broadneck attack in the second half to win one of the two boys soccer Class 4A East regional championships, 2-0, on November 2.

The Falcons were looking to avenge the 3-2 home loss they suffered against Broadneck in September and were also looking to finish off what they had started in the county championship; the Falcons were leading 1-0 at halftime when that game was canceled due to bad weather. But Falcons head coach Ryan Parisi said that the team was treating it just like another game. “It’s just another game, another hurdle in front of us,” Parisi stated.

Both teams played tough during the first half of the regional championship as neither came close to scoring until late in the first half. Falcons junior Andrew Blamphin received a nice pass along the far side of the field and crossed it to fellow junior Elliot Gerig, who was breaking toward the goal. Gerig was able to knock the ball toward the net off the cross, but the shot was stopped by Bruins senior goalkeeper Griffin Bodziak. However, Bodziak couldn’t hold onto the ball as it bounced off his hands, back to Gerig, who put it in the back of the net to give the visiting Falcons the lead, with less than four minutes remaining until halftime.

The second half became a defensive battle for the Falcons as the Bruins turned on the aggression to try and level the score. At one point, in the span of about 10 minutes, the Bruins had three corner attempts and several throw-ins from deep inside the Falcons’ side of the field. Unfortunately for the Bruins, none of those chances produced any good shot attempts on goal and many of them were easily cleared by Severna Park.

The Falcons were finally able to put the game away when in the 69th minute, a Bruins player was given a yellow card for a bad tackle attempt, just outside the goal box. Gus Bachmann took the free kick attempt, which was initially saved by Bodziak. However, the ball bounced off Bodziak’s hand, off the post away from him, and Falcons junior Kevin Bearinger was there to tap it in, setting off a wild celebration amongst the Falcons supporters.

Severna Park never gave Broadneck many chances at getting shots on goal, due to the Falcons’ defense, and when there were shots near the goal, the Falcons’ goalkeeper was there to catch the ball and slow the game down.

“The biggest difference between game one and game three was having our senior goalkeeper, Brandon Asch,” Parisi said, comparing this year’s games against Broadneck. “He is a special kind of leader and person, and he was phenomenal for us.”

After the game, Bruins head coach Sean Tettemer credited the Falcons for controlling the game from the onset.

“We were just trying to get any kind of momentum that we could to try and connect some passes,” Tettemer said. “They did a great job being on our backs as soon as we touched the ball, and they didn’t give us time to do anything.”

With the win, the Falcons qualified for the state championship playoffs. Since this game, the Falcons hosted Old Mill at home in the state quarterfinals, winning 1-0 on November 5.