CUMBERLAND — After its coach Blake Geatz wanted better shot quality its last time out, Allegany simply couldn’t miss in the first 20 minutes Tuesday.
Allegany’s first three shots on frame went in the back of the net, beginning with a Chris Manherz score in the fifth minute and followed by a set piece goal by Kohen Madden and another strike by Manherz.
Manherz finished with a hat trick, and top-ranked Allegany took down No. 2 Mountain Ridge, 5-1, Tuesday at Greenway Avenue Stadium to get some redemption for a pair of losses to the Miners last year.
“It was a full team effort,” Geatz said. “Being down a couple injuries throughout the game there, I thought we responded well with the personnel that we had to use. … Overall I’m happy. Good team effort.”
Allegany upped its overall mark to 4-0-1. Its 3-0 record in Western Maryland Athletic Conference play puts the club halfway to a conference title after league foe Northern canceled its season.
Mountain Ridge fell to 2-2-1 overall and 1-1 in the WestMAC.
The Campers lost to reigning area champion Mountain Ridge, 6-1 and 2-1, last fall and used that as motivation to fuel their fast start.
“That was all we were focused on,” said Manherz, who added an assist. “They came out loud yelling, and we were just wanting to put them away early. First five minutes, that was our goal and that’s what we did. We scored at the four-minute mark and we took them off from there.”
The opening goal was an opportunistic one. Cole Ricker won a 50-50 ball near midfield, headed it toward the Miners’ goal and Manherz made a head fake to get behind the defense.
Manherz placed a low shot from the left side of the box just inside the right post for a 1-0 lead with 36:41 on the clock.
Less than 10 minutes later, a Ryan Mitchell corner kick found Madden on the back post for a header goal with 28:14 remaining, and Manherz made it 3-0 with a rocket shot from the boundary of the box into the left corner with 20:37 on the clock. Noah Simmons had the assist.
Allegany had just one more shot on goal than Mountain Ridge in the first half (4-3) yet it led on the scoreboard 3-1.
“Allegany’s a quality team,” Mountain Ridge head coach Tim Nightengale said. “I thought we played a fair match tonight. We did some good things, but we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities, and they capitalized on every opportunity they had. So credit to them.”
John Delaney put the Miners on the scoreboard after Trent Diamond fed Delaney a through ball and he got behind the Allegany backline.
Delaney’s tally cut the deficit to 3-1 with 11:44 left in the half, and Mountain Ridge looked as good as Allegany, if not better, for much of the remaining 50-plus minutes.
Mountain Ridge couldn’t take advantage where it mattered, and a defensive letdown allowed Simmons to score and push Allegany’s lead to three again, up 4-1 with 24:13 remaining.
“It felt like we had the ball up here at the beginning of the second half for 10 minutes, and they leaked one out and score on it,” Nightengale said. “So that just deflates everything that we worked for because we couldn’t finish in that final third.”
Allegany keeper Eoin Mowbray made a diving stop on a Diamond shot in the 66th minute, one of several scoring opportunities for the Miners in the final 15 minutes that came back empty.
The Campers finally got back on the ball with four minutes to go, and Jack Taylor launched a long ball to Manherz on the counter attack.
Manherz beat the Mountain Ridge keeper with his dribble and found the back of the net to secure his hat trick and punctuate the victory with a goal with 3:15 to play.
The game was close in every way but the scoreboard, as Allegany held a 12-10 edge in shots (7-5 on goal) and Mountain Ridge had a 6-2 margin in corner kicks.
Mowbray made four saves, and Miners keeper Will Hughes had two.
It wasn’t all good for Allegany Tuesday, as star freshman Luca Jacovino suffered a leg injury in the fifth minute and was taken away in an ambulance.
Samuel Panetta was also injured fighting for a 50-50 ball with 10:10 remaining and did not return.
“I’m proud of the kids that may not get in as much as the starters for stepping up tonight,” Geatz said. “Colten Gary in specific goes out there and does a shift for us there in a big spot near the end of the game.”
Allegany won the junior varsity match 2-1. Dylan Irons and Reagan Debnath scored for the Campers. Bex Litton did so for Mountain Ridge.
Allegany (1-0 City League) hosts Bishop Walsh (4-4-1 overall, 0-1 City) on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Mountain Ridge takes on unbeaten and fifth-ranked Calvary (7-0-1) in the first match ever between the squads in Frostburg on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“Everybody knows what Calvary has,” Nightengale said. “They’ve got the premier scorer in the area (Sammy Scritchfield), so that’s going to be a focus of ours. We’ve got to not lose track of him, but they’ve got 10 other players on the field as well.
“We’ll come back tomorrow, come up with a game plan and put that into play, and we’ll see where it goes on Thursday night.”