By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – What a debut!

Playing for the first time at the new Donald M. Chapman lll Stadium, the MIfflin County boys soccer team met up with James Buchanan in what would be a defensive thriller from beginning to end.

But in the end, the Huskies would gut out a 2-1 victory.

Offensively, the “Purple and Black Attack” would be led by two goals by Jace Bagrosky.

Goalie Jack Suydam was clutch under pressure as he stopped six shots and had a scoop save in the final minute to secure the victory for the Huskies.

“I really liked our ball movement. I thought we were pretty efficient with our passing,“  said Mifflin County head coach Keith Yoder. “We did what we wanted to do minus finishing a few more goals. We did what we wanted to do minus that.”

Early in the first half, the Huskies flooded the offensive side of the ball, keeping the Rockets back on their heels for a good part of the first half.

However, James Buchanan’s goalie Raiden Mathews was up for the challenge as he kept his team in the game.

But less than eight minutes in, the Huskies would work the ball inside and Bagrosky put away a rebound from a Huskies shot and sent it home with 31:47 left 1st half.

Mifflin County would continue to pound the ball inside the Rockets back-third looking to add to its lead.

As the clocked ticked down to under the 15-minute mark of the half, James Buchanan made the most of a free kick opportunity.

Judah Starns-Nuzzolo blasted a shot that found its way through with 13:47 left before half.

The game would go into the intermission tied at one.

In the second half, the game grew more intense as the game progressed with both teams playing with a sense of urgency.

The Huskies took back the lead minutes into the start of the half.

In a battle of possession in the Rockets goal area, the Huskies were fouled inside, forcing a thrilling penalty kick opportunity.

Bagrosky set up looking at where he would send the ball. When the whistle blew to start the time, Bagrosky faked out the goalie and sent it home, giving the Huskies back the lead with 33:41.

From there, both defenses stood strong and neither backed down, forcing the game into a physical back-and-forth possession.

In the end, the Huskies defense stood tall, keeping James Buchanan off the scoreboard and at the same time, putting the Huskies into the win column.

Mifflin County outshot James Buchanan 12-8 and led in corner opportunities by an 8-2 margin.

Suydam captured 10 saves en route to the victory.

“We were very happy with all the boys and their efforts whatever minutes they got,” said Mifflin County assistant coach Todd Peters. “It definitely was awesome to get the first win in our house, Kish Bank Field at Chapman Stadium. We had two parts in each half that we want to work to clean up, but our boys know that and will be willing to work on them. We were happy with our shape but want to maintain our type of play for the full match.”

There was no Junior Varsity contest yesterday.