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By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
WEST CHESTER >> The term ‘winning West Chester’ doesn’t mean much to anybody else. But it means a whole heck of a lot to just about every high school athlete, and coach, at the borough’s three high schools.
It’s like the Downingtown East vs. Downingtown West rivalry, but with two bitter rivals instead of one, with double the bragging rights on the line.
“All these kids grow up in this town,” said Henderson boys’ soccer coach Chas Wilson. “They have a shared experience except for one: what high school they go to. So when we meet on the field, it means a lot to go out and show some school pride.”
His Warriors overcame a halftime deficit and slipped past visiting West Chester Rustin, 2-1, on Thursday evening at J. Oscar Dicks Stadium. It was Henderson’s sixth one-goal victory of the season, and completed a 2-0 sweep against West Chester East and the Golden Knights.
“It always feels great,” said junior forward Josh Jarden, who notched the game winner. “Last year, we took two losses.
“To win West Chester was one of our goals – we put it on the board and we wanted it badly. I play with some of those guys in club (soccer) and bragging rights is big.”
With the score deadlocked at 1-1, Jarden got loose in the open field, somehow got around a couple defenders and hit a low liner just inside the right post with 17:41 remaining in regulation. The Warriors are now 11-1 overall.
“I tried to play it through but it came right back to me,” Jarden recalled. “There were two defenders there. I turned one of them and the other I was able to put him in the dust.”
Less than five minutes earlier, Henderson’s Andres Bustamante drew a penalty kick and buried a left-footed effort into the lower left portion of the net to make it 1-1, setting the stage for another one-goal win.
“The word I use is grit,” Wilson said when asked about the close wins. “A lot of the games we’ve played this season are close and stressful. But these kids have handled it very well. We never put our head down if we are trailing but keep working.”
It was a bitter loss for Rustin (10-3 overall), who had the lead most of the evening, and suffered an unlucky break in the closing seconds of the first half. With Rustin ahead 1-0, senior Jack Pelkowski appeared to convert a corner kick. But even though the ball ended up in the Henderson net, the play was waved off. The final seven seconds of the half were then replayed, and it ended 1-0.
“It was a tough one,” Knights’ head coach Ryan Castle acknowledged. “I’ve been in this for 10 years and I’ve never seen a goal get called off. (The officials) told me it was because the whistle slipped out of a mouth.
“That was an interesting call and a big momentum swing. Instead of going in 2-0, it was 1-0. But credit to (Henderson) they worked hard in the second half. They are a good team. They are 11-1 for a reason.”
In the very early going, Rustin had more corners, but the Warriors had the edge in scoring chances. Henderson’s Will Kristoff had two in the opening 19 minutes but was stopped both times by Rustin keeper Evan Chappell.
But with just over nine minutes in the half, the Knights recorded their first shot on goal off a free kick by Danny McGonagle, and it led to Rustin’s fourth corner. Pelkowski promptly headed McGonagle’s corner toward the net. And even though a Warrior defender booted it out, the referees ruled it had crossed the goal line.
“We did have a lot of chances and the bounces didn’t go our way in the first half,” Wilson said. “I reminded our guys at halftime that if we center ourselves and keep pressing hard, eventually we have to hope the bounces go our way.”
The Knights finished with a 6-3 edge in corners, but the Warriors had the shots on goal advantage, 9-2.
“That was three games in four days, and our fifth game in eight days,” Castle reported. “Henderson had a week off before this game, so maybe they had fresh legs heading into the second half.
“I told the boys that that was a second or third round district-level atmosphere. As I tell every team: the mark of a great team is the response.”
At 4-0, Rustin sits atop the Ches-Mont American standings and is in the top 10 in the District 1 4A Power Rankings. The Warriors are 2-0 in the C-M National, and are the only team so far this season to knock off Downingtown East. It was, you guessed it, a one-goal victory.
“We play to have fun, but winning is fun,” Jarden said.
“We were in a similar situation before at the half at Downingtown East. We knew we would get our chances.”
West Chester Henderson 2, West Chester Rustin 1
W.C. Rustin 1 0 — 1
W.C. Henderson 0 2 — 2
W.C. Rustin goal: Pelkowski.
W.C. Henderson goals: Bustamante, Jarden.
Goalie saves: Chappell (WCR) 7; Arrison (WCH) 1.
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