HS: 2016 Final Fall State, Region rankings

by Sheldon Shealer

November 21, 2016

It was quite the championship weekend for six members of the Lower Dauphin (Hummelstown, Pa.) boys soccer team.

After Lower Dauphin capped a perfect high school season with a state championship Friday night in Hershey, Pa., several of the team's starters joined their club teammates first thing Saturday morning in Maryland and helped LDC United capture the Bethesda Premier Cup Freedom Division title.

Pittsburgh commit Tim Townsend gave Lower Dauphin a 1-0 lead with his 31st goal of the season, then junior standout Jackson Becher added two goals, his 31st and 32nd of the season, as the Falcons handled previously undefeated [Northwestern Leigh pa-m] (New Tripoli, Pa.), 3-0, in Friday's Pennsylvania Class AAA final.

Meanwhile, in Bethesda, LDC United won its tournament opener over Springfield Cyclones Blue (Va.) 2-1 without its Lower Dauphin players. Once reassembled for the Saturday 8 a.m. match, LDC United blanked rival Penn Fusion (Pa.), 1-0, and hammered East Brunswick United (N.J.), 7-1, on Sunday to complete a perfect showing in a busy weekend of youth soccer.

Sunday night marked the end of the 2016 high school fall season, 110 days after it began.

The season kicked off with a girls game in Mississippi on Aug. 2 and ended with the final whistle Sunday night in a Hunterdon Central (Flemington, N.J.) 1-0 Group 4 state final victory over Scotch Plains-Fanwood (Scotch Plains, N.J.).

Here are a few other highlights from the final weekend of fall season play:

BOYS

Nauset (Mass.) finally gave up a goal, but achieved its ultimate goal -- winning the Eastern Mass Division 2 title. The victory secured a 23-0 season where Nauset shut out its first 22 opponents. James McCully scored both goals as Nauset rallied for a 2-1 victory over Masconomet (Mass.) in the final. ... Chris Donovan finished a Nick Jennings pass to lift Conestoga (Pa.) to a 1-0 victory over Elizabethtown (Pa.) in the Pennsylvania Class AAAA final. Conestoga spent several weeks at No. 1 in the SIMA FAB 50 this season and the state title will secure a final Top 5 finish. ... Ramapo (N.J.) capped a perfect season with a 3-0 victory over Toms River South (N.J.) in the New jersey Group 3 final Sunday afternoon. Ramapo's 22-0 showing will leave the team in the Top 15 in the SIMA FAB 50. ... Other nationally ranked teams winning state titles in the final weekend were Walter Johnson (Md.), Salesianum (Del.), Green Hope (N.C.), Urbana (Md.) and Lewisburg (Pa.).

GIRLS

Glastonbury (Conn.) and Central Catholic (Mass.) started 1-2 in the Northeast Region and went the wire-to-wire in those positions as each won their respective state titles over the weekend. Glastonbury finished 20-0, Central Catholic at 23-0, and both are in line for the SIMA FAB 50 final Top 5 finish. ... [Hingham ma-] (Mass.) capped an undefeated season with an Eastern Mass Division 2 title. ... In New Jersey, Hunterdon Central (N.J.) won the Group 4 crown on Saturday, setting up Sunday's boys-girls sweep; and powers Northern Highlands (N.J.) and [Wall nj-w] (N.J.) tied in the Grop 3 final. ... It was quite the coming out party for Pittsburgh schools this past weekend as Canon-McMillan (Pa.) won the Pennsylvania Class AAAA title a day after Moon (Pa.) stunned Villa Joseph Marie (Pa.) in the Class AAA final. ... In Maryland, Walter Johnson (Md.) and Urbana (Md.) won the 4A and 3A titles, respetively, results that will earn SIMA FAB 50 final rankings for both programs and reinforce the state's public school powerhouse region now rests in Frederick and Montgomery counties -- just outside the D.C. Beltway. Five of the six Class 4A, 3A and 2A public school champions this year were from Frederick (three) and Montgomery (two) counties. In the West, Camas (Wash.) won the Washington Class 4A crown to justify its lofty SIMA FAB 50 ranking. Undefeated Bellevue (Wash.) is sure to jump from the region rankings into the Top 25 after winning the 3A title, which included a semifinal victory over former Top 10-ranked Seattle Prep (Wash.).