Greensburg Central Catholic boys rebound from loss to shut out Serra Catholic

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 | 10:18 PM

Fifth-ranked Greensburg Central Catholic was hoping for a playoff tune-up in its next-to-last Section 2-A game of the season.

And that is just what the Centurions got against Serra Catholic, another playoff team. The host Eagles contested shots, played physical and simply got in GCC's way for most of the night — the same kind of traits playoff games tend to produce.

They even tried to make GCC's top scorer a nonfactor. But the game plan lasted only so long.

A pair of second-half goals held up nicely for the Centurions, who came away with a 2-0 victory Tuesday night in McKeesport.

It was the eighth shutout of the season for GCC (12-3, 9-2), which is 24-4-1 all-time against the Eagles.

“Today was a confidence-booster,” said GCC junior midfielder JoJo Schwerha, who had a goal and an assist. “I believe the play we had today was better than we had all season. This isn't the best pitch … but we did really well in team play.”

Serra (8-5, 6-4) marked GCC's Luke Mort, and it clogged the center of the field.

GCC spread it out more in the second, and it led to more chances.

“I got my outside backs going forward, and it was basically pick your poison,” GCC coach Tyler Solis said. “Either take the outside back or the outside mid.

“This game was much needed. We didn't have a good game against Winchester (Thurston). We were missing some guys, so this was kind of our comeback. I think we can get some momentum going again.”

GCC seemed to play with purpose. Or, maybe anger. It was coming off a 2-1 loss to Winchester Thurston on Monday, which fanned the flames.

The first score of the game came at the 30:22 mark of the second half when Greensburg Central finally managed a clean, uncontested shot.

Schwerha took a deflection, reset his position and kicked it low and right to beat lunging Serra keeper Ted Almeter.

“What was missing in the second half for us was momentum,” Serra coach Chad Burns said. “We tried to contain (Mort); he's such a fast kid. We just didn't have enough offense. We had a five-man offense with one man marking.

“We were preparing one strategy for the playoffs.”

It was 2-0 after a helper by Schwerha. He crossed a soft pass to Mort, who found the back of the net with 17:39 left.

GCC edged Serra, 1-0, earlier in the season.

Serra Catholic had not played a game since Oct. 3. GCC played three games during the Eagles' down period.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Greensburg C.C.