By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – Tuesday, the Bellefonte boys soccer team and Hollidaysburg made this year’s District 6 Class AAA championship an instant classic!

Looking to head into overtime tied at two, the Red Raiders got the ball with less than a minute left in regulation.

Conelle Stabinger plastered the game winner from the 30, hitting the crossbar and back into the net at 0:39 left securing them the championship win and a berth in the PIAA state playoffs.

Bellefonte’s goalie Eli Davis kept quite busy and added more clutch saves to his very long season resume. Davis finished the day with 15 saves on the evening.

“Eli kept us in the second half. He played a heck of game. I told their coach there that I thought they (Hollidaysburg) out hustled us tonight,” said Bellefonte coach Scott Martz.”we put more on the scoreboard. That last shot by Connell, we said at halftime that we have to hit shots from outside the 20-25. That’s the shot we have to hit. it took us to the last 45 seconds until we finally hit that shot. But that’s the shot we wanted.”

“It’s a great feeling. I told them at halftime, “You earned this. Don’t give it to them. Fight hard”.”

In the first stanza, the Raiders got the opening possession and Andy Gerasenko took the ball down in a breakaway attempt. However, the Tigers defense quickly stopped the run by keeping Gerasenko away from the net.

Despite numerous corner opportunities for Hollidaysburg, the Red Raiders’ defense was up for the early challenges, sending away the offense frustrated.

Bellefonte got the first goal on the board on a Gerasenko unassisted goal at the 34:10 mark.

Both defensive back-thirds and their goalies all stood up to the challenge as the first half dipped below the 20-minute mark.

The Tigers outside threat Micah Blake broke loose and was able to knock in an unassisted goal at 15:36. The goal was shot to the far corner of the goal that slipped past Davis.

But the Raiders were not going to be denied on this day as Gerasenko blasted his second goal of the young contest on an unassisted shot at 14:35. With the score, Bellefonte took back the lead.

As the game went into the intermission, Davis had already tallied nine saves. The Bellefonte offense was outshot 12-8 and tailed in corners by a 4-0 margin.

The tension started as the two entered the second half as the two became more of defensive performance by Davis.

When Davis wasn’t collecting the ball, his backline was as they helped Davis kick out the ball on certain conditions that looked like a sure fire goal for the Tigers.

But each time the Hollidaysburg team were sent back empty handed.

With the game winding down under six minutes, Hollidaysburg found the opening they needed and tied things at two. Owen Naugle picked up an unassisted, goal to tie the game at 5:48.

Both defenses stepped up there game and just went it looked like overtime was almost a sure thing, Stabinger launches the ball from long distance, giving his team the lead with only 39-ticks left on the clock.

From there the celebration began as the Red Raiders ran out the clock and punched their ticket to the PIAA playoffs.

Bellefonte  3 , Hollidaysburg 2

HOL    1 1 – 2

BEL     2 1 – 3

Scoring

First half

BEL – Andy Gerasenko unassisted, 34:10.

HOL – Micah Blake unassisted,15:36

BEL –  Gerasenko unassisted, 14:35.

Second half

HOL – Owen Naugle unassisted, 5:48.

BEL – Conelle Stabinger unassisted, 0:39

Shots on goal: HOL –    24. BEL –   12.

Corners: HOL –    8. BEL –   0.

Saves: HOL –    Liam Jancula 6. BEL –   Eli Davis 15.