Shane Macko got Tunkhannock into overtime and won it there for the Tigers.
Macko’s second goal, with two seconds left in the first extra session Friday night, lifted Tunkhannock over host and defending champion North Pocono for a 2-1 victory at the District 2 Class 3A boys soccer championship.
The bracket was already filled with drama prior to Macko’s overtime buzzer-beater. Of the seven District 2 Class 3A games, six were decided by one goal, three of them in overtime, and the other was decided by two.
“This was a whole new level of excitement,” Tunkhannock coach Sante Romaldini said. “When it was halftime and we were down, 1-0, I said, ‘… we’ve got to start brand new’. The boys came out played that second half unreal. We worked possession; we moved the ball up field; they played their hearts out.”
Macko tied the game midway through the second half on a header off an Owen Stretch throw-in.
When neither team scored again in regulation, they moved on to overtime.
“Both teams were exhausted,” Romaldini said. “North Pocono’s got a phenomenal team. They have some dangerous weapons on that team.”
Overtime was winding down when Nick DeMarco sent a pass up the middle to Macko. With Romaldini yelling out “five seconds.” Macko, unaware he was racing the clock, took time to settle the ball and place the game-winner in the lower right corner of the net.
“I saw the ball get played to Nick, the outside mid,” said Macko, who not hear his coach yell about the time. “He flicked it over. I saw the bounce on it and saw the spin on it that it was going to spin to one side, so that’s the side I went around the defender.
“I was open, got a foot on it and it went in.”
The Tigers have grown accustomed to timely goals from Macko.
“Shane’s been an extremely important player for us on the offensive side; a lot of clutch goals,” Romaldini said. “ … He works hard. He’s all over our field.”
Macko said the entire team kept working through the overtime to produce the first Tunkhannock district title since 2013.
“We knew this is what we worked for and we didn’t want this to be our last game,” Macko said. “We just said, ‘everything you have left in the tank, put it out there’.
“We got the job done.”
Like Macko, DeMarco said he was unaware of just how few seconds the Tigers were working with as they put together the winning play.
“I just got the ball and knew Shane was behind me,” DeMarco said. “He’s really good with somebody on his back, so I just flicked it over my shoulder and he did the rest.
“I had no idea on the clock. I just knew it was down to the wire.”
DeMarco left the game briefly in overtime after banging heads with a North Pocono player while trying to go for a header.
“I was determined to get back in there,” he said.
North Pocono scored first, less than seven minutes into the game.
The defending champion Trojans, the only District 2 team to win a state game last season, broke in front when Peter Sica made a pass from about 40 yards out to the edge of the box where Eliot Bowen was able to score.
Tunkhannock finished with leads of 9-8 in shots on goal and 4-3 in corner kicks.
Max Shelhamer from Tunkhannock and Aidan Bassi from North Pocono each made seven saves.
SEMIFINALS
Tunkhannock 1, Dallas 0
Macko’s early goal held up as visiting Tunkhannock won the first of two straight road games against higher-seeded opponents, knocking out top-seeded Dallas.
North Pocono 3, Wyoming Area 2
Sica fired in a shot from near the right sideline in overtime to lift North Pocono to Wednesday’s victory.
QUARTERFINALS
Dallas 1, Wallenpaupack 0
Luca DeRome’s header gave top-seeded Dallas the only goal in the Oct. 31 game.
Tunkhannock 3, Valley View 2
Caden Newswanger, Tyler Pietrowski and Shane Macko scored for Tunkhanock Oct. 31.
Luke Kotcho had both Valley View goals.
North Pocono 2, Pittston Area 0
The only two-goal margin of the tournament had the opportunity to be larger when the Trojans outshot the Patriots, 24-1, and took all 11 of the game’s corner kicks.
Zach Evans scored both goals.
Wyoming Area 2, Crestwood 1
Liam Burke scored the overtime game-winner for the Warriors.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was created from the reporting of Paul Gerrity.
