Fitch advances with OT triumph over McKinley

Dustin Cramer netted the game-winning goal on an assist by Ben Weaver.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
AUSTINTOWN -- The Austintown Fitch and Canton McKinley boys soccer teams battled Tuesday's terrible weather conditions and a muddy field into overtime before the Falcons came away with a 3-2 victory in a Division I sectional tournament game.
Dustin Cramer's game-winning kick came on an assist from Ben Weaver with 1 minute, 59 seconds left in the first of the two 10-minute overtime periods.
The Falcons (4-9-4) held on in the final overtime session to advance to Saturday's game at Kent Roosevelt.
The win avenged a 2-1 regular-season loss to the Bulldogs (5-9-3) earlier this year.
"We decided to take the wind to start overtime," Falcons coach Jeff Sosnowski said. "We won the toss and didn't take the ball. We wanted to go with the wind on our end of the field."
That strategy paid off as the Falcons peppered McKinley goalie Ian Murphy with three shots before Cramer's kick found the back of the goal.
Colaluca excels
Fitch then relied on its defense and main defender Anthony Colaluca to hold off any Bulldog rally.
"Canton has a great all-state player in [Brent] Long," Sosnowski said. "Once we got the lead, we put Colaluca on him and he didn't touch the ball in the last 12 minutes."
Fitch nearly got an insurance goal in the second overtime period, but Weaver's shot hit the right post and bounded away.
The Falcons jumped on McKinley quickly behind the strong play of their captain and midfielder Chris Frazzini.
The senior scored two first-half goals on assists from Cramer and Brad Hrinko.
"It was tough going out there," Frazzini said. "But we put the pressure on them early and it paid off with a couple of early scores."
Fitch outshot the Bulldogs 12-2 in the first half, but one of those shots by Canton enabled McKinley to get back in the contest with just 1:10 remaining in the half.
Steve Carrera scored on an assist from Long. Long scored the tying goal with 23 minutes left in regulation on a penalty kick.
"We thought we had some momentum heading into overtime after coming back from two down," McKinley coach Pat Downing said. "But Fitch kept the pressure on and they won this game with heart and hustle."
Fitch nearly won the game in regulation, but a penalty kick by Frazzini was stopped by Murphy with just more than three minutes remaining.
Murphy stopped 15 shots as the Falcons outshot McKinley 24-8.
"It was a great effort by our entire team," Sosnowski said. "We never quit and we took it to them the entire game."