Giant leap for Shaub helps Haddon Township take step into Coaches' final
HADDON TOWNSHIP – It wasn't the easy finish it looked like.
It turned into a martial arts move out of necessity.
Colton Shaub tucked home a rebound with 6:43 remaining to lift the Haddon Township boys soccer team past West Deptford, 3-2, and into the finals of the South Jersey Coaches Association Tournament.
Shaub followed in a shot by Luke Chatten from about 25 yards out.
Eagles keeper Josh Owen got his hands on the initial shot and batted it down, and Shaub thought he'd lucked into a sitter.
It wasn't quite like that. He had to make a last-second leap to get a finish on it.
“I saw the opportunity to sneak in, flick it with my right and tuck it right inside the post,” Shaub said. “I thought it was going to be a little bounce right on the ground, and it came up a little higher than I thought. It went off my knee, and then I kind of just touched it in with my toe, right into the right post.”
It was the last in a series of unfortunate bounces for West Deptford, which came back twice from a goal down. The first came on a corner in the fourth minute, when no one was able to get a touch on a corner kick by the Hawks' Finn McGovern. It bounced across the goal line before Owen could swat it away.
Luke Humes got his head on a restart to tie it for the Eagles late in the half, but Haddon Township went back on top when Gabe Chatten scored from 30 yards out on a restart.
“I tried to cross it, and it just ended up going in the far corner,” Chatten said. “Once I hit it, I could tell; I knew the keeper wasn't going to get to it. It was perfectly placed.”
But so was Humes' through pass that sent in Mason Quinton on a breakaway with 9:10 left. Quinton got one touch on it, and it was just enough to send it home and tie the game again.
The last deadlock had the shortest life, however – Shaub's seventh of the season came less than three minutes later.
“We thrive off energy, and we feel like our last few games, our energy has been through the roof,” Haddon Township coach Jim Bonder said. “Today it was lacking a little, but we figured it out. We have great leadership. Luke Chatten has been the best player on the field every game, all season, and he just figured it out again for us.”
What it means
Haddon Township avenged a 3-0 loss to the Eagles on Sep. 16 and more importantly, has advanced to its first-ever Coaches Tournament final. The Hawks will face Shawnee, a 4-3 winner over Rancocas Valley Wednesday, at the DeCou Complex in Cherry Hill.
By the numbers
The Hawks have won four straight games and 11 of 12 since that Sep. 16 loss. They have 14 goals in three Coaches Tournament games. West Deptford defeated a pair of Group 4 foes on the way to the semifinal round, only to fall to a division rival. This is the second straight year that two semifinalists came from the Colonial Liberty, which is made of Group 1 and 2 squads. Sterling and West Deptford were semifinalists last season.
They said it
Shaub, on making defensive adjustments in the second half:
“Basically we just said we have to communicate more. We had to be better leaders on the field and we just had to stick with our man, to make sure they didn't win it, and we won the first ball.”
West Deptford coach Tim McAndrew:
“We feel ready for the playoffs. We're happy for Haddon Township. It's nice to see the (Colonial Conference) Liberty Division represented again, and we like them. We want to see them do well.”
Haddon Township coach Jim Bonder:
“I think it speaks volumes for the boys and what they believe. Every year we are competing for a state title, but so much more; we want to get into the Coaches Tournament, we want to make a run and obviously we want to win the league. The league definitely prepares (us), because there really are no games off. Every game is a tough one. Hopefully we're prepared and we're up for Saturday.”
John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times, the Courier Post and the Vineland Daily Journal. You can reach him via e-mail at jlewis@thebct.com. Please consider supporting local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Burlington County Times: Haddon Township battles into Coaches Tournament final
