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Quakers again prove to be East Juniata nemesis

DANVILLE — Although not classic rivals, there’s little doubt that Millville and East Juniata have formed a bit of a rivalry over the years — especially when their matchups only come in the District 4 tournament.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they have yet to be on the winning side against the Quakers.

In the three previous meetings between the two teams, Millville has had East Juniata’s number each time, including in last year’s district title game.

In Saturday’s Class A quarterfinal tilt, No. 2 Millville came away victorious again as the Quakers got a pair of goals from senior captain Jaylen Reichner to pull away for a 3-1 victory at Danville Area High School.

East Juniata’s season ends with a 10-9-2 mark.

“It’s always scary drawing EJ in the first round or playing them whenever. They are very well coached, they play with a lot of pace and they play a lot of two- and three-touch combination play,” Millville coach Anthony Preston said. “The boys were focused tonight.”

No. 7 East Juniata matched Millville shot-for-shot early, but the Quakers got the only goal of the first half when Reichner took a cross from Cameron Laubach and drilled it into the back of the net with 14:29 remaining.

East Juniata got back into the game midway through the second half and netted the equalizer on a Quaker foul.

On the play, Seth Strawser was tripped in the box and the ensuing penalty kick was taken and made by Trent Watts to knot the score at 1-all with 26:38 left in the game.

“The kids kept fighting and fighting, and then we got that PK and we were even. Trent makes a great shot and we’re even, and then, you know …,” East Juniata coach Brian Watts said, with more than a little despair in his voice.

That’s because three minutes later Josh Spangenberg connected off corner kick to put Millville in front for good at 2-1 with 23:31 left.

“I don’t even know what to say (on the go-ahead goal), because Adam (Finkbiner) is such a force in the back and Jared (Heister) is such a big guy and they win more head balls than they don’t and I know that,” Watts said.

“Someone has to get something on (the ball) — a shoulder, head, chest. Someone attack it and someone be in front of it. It’s not a hard concept to be in front of a white shirt and get the ball first.”

Said coach Preston, “We worked a lot on restarts this week because in districts you don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get, so you hope to take advantage as many as you can. Luckily enough for us Josh got his head on the ball and scored a pretty good goal to help alleviate a bit of the pressure EJ was putting on us.”

Later on, Reichner put the final nail in the coffin for EJ by firing a strike from 35 yards out that somehow got in over the fingertips of Tiger goalkeeper Mike Ryan and into the net.

On the other side of the field, Reichner’s second goal just totally took the air out of the Tigers.

“We’ve all seen the highlights of those (shots). Ninety percent of the time those shots are over the keeper and under the crossbar,” Watts said. “I don’t care if he stands on the 18 or if he stands on the goal line, that ball was probably in no matter what.”

Despite the loss, East Juniata can hang its hat on the fact that it turned around a shaky start to the season in order to qualify for the district playoffs.

“I told the players, we were 5-6 at one point and no one thought we would be here (in district quarters),” Watts said. “I wasn’t ready for the season to be over. Someone has to win and someone has to lose, and this one is going to sting for a while.”

Millville 3, East Juniata 1

First half

Mill–Jaylen Reichner (Cameron Laubach), 14:29.

Second half

EJ–Trent Watts (PK), 26:38; Mill–Josh Spangenberg, 23:31; Mill–Reichner, 11:54.

Shots: 8-8. Corners: EJ 2-1. Saves: Mill-5 (Gage Michael), EJ-2 (Mike Ryan).

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