NTL BOYS' SOCCER: TOWANDA'S SECOND HALF RALLY KEEPS THEIR PLAYOFF HOPES ALIVE IN WIN OVER MONTROSE (2024-10-13)

Northern Tier Sports Report
TOWANDA — With their postseason lives on the brink Towanda rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat Montrose, 3-2, during non-league boys’ soccer action Saturday.

The win puts Towanda one win away from .500 with one game left - at Shamokin on Tuesday with a 5 p.m. start.

“Honestly, that’s the most rewarding win I think we’ve ever had,” said senior Connor Barnes. “I don’t think we’ve ever won a senior night before. Just to finally get that, especially on mine, that felt amazing.”

Barnes, Ben Shrawder, and Gianni Assante Di Cupillo had the three Towanda goals as Jack Wheaton had two assists. Owen Lane also had a helper.

“There was definitely a special atmosphere because it’s our last (home) game, but we were able to get the job done,” said Assante. “Now it comes down to Tuesday to extend our season.”

Andrew Brawn had the two Montrose goals.

After Assante scored in the first half Barnes would knot the game up at 2-2 with a long shot at the 22:24 mark of the second half.

“I knew if I just kept on ripping, the keeper fumbled everyone, so I just kept doing it,” said Barnes. “I knew it was going in.”

Shrawder then got a rebound goal less than two minutes later for the go ahead.

They had a good pep talk at halftime to motivate them for the final 40 minutes.

“We just needed to start making the shots,” Assante said. “We got a lot of shots on goals, and we know what we’re capable of, and we showed them in in the second half.”

The final 20 minutes the Knights kept Montrose scoreless to get the win.

“My emotions were high,” Barnes said. “I was just ecstatic. Then it hit a point where it’s like, we can’t lose this game now, because we’re still in playoff contention.”

Towanda out shot Montrose 26-11 as Blaiz Nichols had seven saves in net for the Knights.

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PHOTOS PROVIDED

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