Jack Leuthe of Abington Heights intercepts a Pittston Area pass during their PIAA District 2 semifinal game.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Jack Leuthe takes an Abington Heights shot on goal during the Comets’ District 2 semifinal game.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Comets Joey Pivorotto follows through with his shot on goal during their game against Pittston Area.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Nico Bustos of Abington Heights celebrates following a goal against Pittston Area.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton, Prep’s Roman Remedios splits two Valley View defenders for the score.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton, Jaxon Pikul takes a Scranton Prep corner kick on October 8.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton, Prep’s Juma Sylvainplays aggressive defense during their game with Valley View.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton, Jaxon Pikul collects asn inbound pass for Scranton Prep against Valley View.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
Scranton, Luke Flanagan dribbles the ball along the sideline in Valley View territory.
Buck Norton-Jennings | For Abington Journal
CLARKS SUMMIT – Abington Heights moved on to boys soccer state tournament play after a perfect season against District 2 competition.
The Comets won Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 3A championships, losing only to District 4’s Lewisburg in a 20-1 regular season. They posted 14 shutouts while outscoring opponents 134-9.
Abington Heights earned a chance to open the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament on its home field, which it was scheduled to do Nov. 4 against District 4 champion Selinsgrove.
Abington Heights 5, Dallas 0
Joey Pivirotto and many of his Abington Heights teammates waited one day short of a year for this chance.
The top-seeded Comets avenged a penalty kick shootout loss in the same matchup when they shut out third-seeded Dallas in the district final Oct. 30.
Dallas came to the same Abington Heights field in 2024 with the teams carrying the same seeds as they did Thursday night.
“We did not have the same result against this team last year in the final,” said Pivirotto, who scored one goal and assisted on another. “We’ve been thinking about this every single day since and we knew we had to get it done tonight.”
Samala Leuthe scored first, early in the game, and assisted Pivirotto.
The Lackawanna League Division 1 champion Comets (20-1) got goals from five different players with Nico Bustos, Matthew Bednar and Connor Hiller also scoring.
“That’s been a common occurrence this season,” Comets coach Frank Dyska said. “You’re seeing many names not only on the scoring side, but on the assisting side as well.”
Abington Heights had a 9-2 advantage in first-half corner kicks for a 2-0 lead.
Pivirotto split two defenders to go in all alone on the goalie to score on the first shot of the second half. The Comets got off the first eight shots after halftime and had a 27-2 advantage in that category midway through the second half.
“I think each individual out there was just locked into the game and their role,” Dyska said. “That just kind of allowed us to do what we wanted to do out there on the field.”
Abington Heights 4, Pittston Area 0
Bustos scored two goals Oct. 29 when Abington Heights pulled away from Pittston Area in the second half for the district semifinal victory.
Pivirotto added a goal and an assist.
The game was scoreless for more than 30 minutes, and the Patriots were within 1-0 nearly 10 minutes into the second half.
After Pivirotto made it 2-0, the top two scorers from the Lackawanna League Division 1 champions combined to put the Patriots away.
Pivirotto sent a corner kick from the right side nearly to the far post, where Bustos got up above everyone to score on a header.
“Joey’s always looking for me on the corners,” Bustos said. “He’s always looking to that spot I run to.”
Abington Heights took the game’s first 13 shots, but did not break the scoreless tie until the last of those shots, a direct kick by Bustos that made its way through traffic near the far post.
Matthew Bednar scored the last goal on a Connor Hiller assist.
Billy Johnson made five saves for the shutout.
Abington Heights 12, Honesdale 0
Abington Heights opened the playoffs with the quarterfinal rout of visiting Honesdale Oct. 24.
Pivirotto had three goals and an assist during the 7-0 first half.
Samala finished with two goals and two assists.
Lake-Lehman 3, Scranton Prep 0
Top-seed and eventual champion Lake-Lehman, which matched Abington Heights for the best record in District 2, knocked out Scranton Prep in the District 2 Class 2A quarterfinals Oct. 23.
Scranton Prep 4, Montrose 3
Scranton Prep needed overtime to get through the Class 2A play-in round Oct. 21.
Regular season recap
Abington Heights ran away with the Lackawanna Division 1 title going 14-0.
North Pocono finished second at 9-4-1.
Scranton Prep was seventh in the eight-team division with a 4-10 record.
