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By JOHN ERZAR; Times Leader Sports Writer
Sunday, November 15, 1998     Page: 3C

ALLENTOWN- It seemed that Tom Brislin’s scoring spree had finally run dry
Saturday afternoon.
   
Wide with a header. Then another. Then close, but off the mark with two
more.
    “Right in a row. Four consecutive headers I had,” Brislin said.
   
But there was still some good fortune left in the junior midfielder.
   
“I knew one was going to come,” Brislin said. “Mr. Norconk (assistant coach
Gary) kept telling me, `You’re going to get one, you’re going to get one.’ And
I got one.”
   
A little later than the Lake-Lehman hoped, but Brislin’s goal was just
enough for the Black Knights to defeat Fleetwood 2-1 in overtime in the PIAA
Class AA boys soccer state quarterfinals at Salisbury Township High School.
   
The District 2 champion Black Knights (23-1-1) will now play in the
semifinals on Tuesday. Their opponent will be District 3 runner-up ELCO,
24-4-1 and a 3-0 winner over District 1 champion Christopher Dock. The time
and site are TBA.
   
District 3 third seed Fleetwood, which knocked out Lehman in the first
round last season and finished as the state’s runner-up, ended its season at
21-6-1.
   
“We’ve been practicing penalty kicks for nine straight practices,” said
Lehman coach Mark Stroney, who had his team prepared for a possible shootout
like last year’s game with Fleetwood. “I told them, `This is what happened
when we didn’t put one in.’ I think that was still in the back of their
minds.”
   
Thanks to Brislin, the game never got to a shootout. He took a short lead
pass just inside the penalty area from Nathan Walters and beat Fleetwood
keeper Dave Accordino three minutes into the second 10-minute overtime period.
   
“Mr. Brislin put the ball in the back of the net and he’s been on a roll,”
Stroney said of Brislin, who had five goals during the Wyoming Valley
Conference season. “He scored against Tulpehocken and had two goals in our
(district) semifinal. He’s been scoring a lot for us, but we held off that
last few-minute flurry from Fleetwood.”
   
The last-minute flurry turned into a last-second frenzy. The best way to
describe it would be to go right to the source, Lehman forward Andrew
Verdekal. Verdekal positioned himself inside the right post as Fleetwood
pushed up all 11 players in an effort to get a tying goal.
   
“The kid was wide open for a shot and I was standing on the post,” Verdekal
said. “It hit me in the chest first. Then I was still standing there and got
it kicked right at me. Then he kicked it right at my legs again and I was
still standing on the line and got it out.”
   
Fleetwood’s offense, though, suffered in part from its own defense.
Lehman’s attack hurried the Fleetwood fullbacks, who rarely distributed the
ball effectively to the midfielders. Only sweeper Hampton Allen had any
success and that was sporadic.
   
Without the link from defense to midfield, the transition from midfield to
the striking line also suffered.
   
“We had five quality kids we lost from last year,” Fleetwood coach Tony
Didyoung said. “That’s hard to replace. I don’t care if you come back with
seven or eight, it’s hard. You have to be solid from front to back. You can’t
have any clinkers and maybe we had one or two and didn’t remedy the
situation.”
   
Fleetwood dominated the early going as Pete Schmidt, Scott Roth and Kirk
Hummel challenged the Lehman defense. The Black Knights, though, had the early
lead when freshman David Walters scored in the 23rd minute.
   
Walters, a member of the U-15 National Team and one of the WVC’s top set-up
players, grounded a hard, choppy 27-yard shot that Accordino was late in his
reaction.
   
“I think he figured I was going to dribble or I was too far out to shoot
it,” Walters said. “But I put it on goal to make the goalie save it. He just
happened not to get his hands on it and it went in.”
   
The lead appeared to be holding up until with just over 14 minutes left in
regulation, Hummel was tripped as he crossed into the penalty area. Hummel
took the penalty kick, converting it and tying the score at 1-1.
   
Should Lehman win Tuesday, it will play in the Class AA state championship
game on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium.
   
Fleetwood0 1 0 0- 1
   
Lake-Lehman1 0 0 1- 2
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