Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Juniata's Ricky Guante clears a ball in front of Penn Cambria's Grant Sidney.

LEWISTOWN — On Tuesday, Juniata boys soccer was going into the District 6 Class 2A postseason with unprecedented momentum as they kicked off against Penn Cambria in the opening round action.

The Indians dominated in all facets of the game on this night, finishing with a 4-1 win.

“I think we started out slow. Just because mentally we were still on the bus,” said Juniata coach Jared Byler. “We finally got in the game and got in the flow. Guys were doing what we asked them to do. We went from there.”

From the opening possession until the final whistle the Indians were able to cut the field in half to keep the momentum for most of the contest.

Juniata was knocking on the door numerous times early on but the Panther defense clogged the middle and were forcing the Indians to not have good looks at the goal.

But to the Indians’ credit they completely shut things off and controlled possession for most of the half.

After numerous close calls and near misses, Juniata jumped on the board with 10:45 left in the first half.

Cooper Adamire found himself in front of the goal and posted an off-balanced shot into the goal for the first score of the game.

Before everything settled back in, the Indians scored again. This time Anthony Maradiaga picked up the unassisted goal at 9:30, upping the lead to 2-0.

In the first half, Juniata outshot the Penn Cambria squad, 15-2.

Going into the second half, Juniata came out of the break and stepped up their game another notch as they continued to hold onto the momentum and field position throughout the stanza.

At the 28:34 mark of the game, Maradiaga gave his team some much appreciated insurance as he blared an unassisted goal at 28:34.

As the shots continued to fall on the Panthers’ goal, the Indians added one more on the night to ice the contest by moving their lead to four.

In transition, Jackson Shellenberger picked up a perfectly placed pass from Arthur Hazard and sent it home at 22:42, making it a 4-0 advantage.

Playing for pride Penn Cambria refused to go down without a fight as they were able to break up the shutout with a goal of their own.

At 8:08 left Nick Marshall hit the back of the net on an unassisted goal.

“Hats off to Penn Cambria. The scoreline doesn’t reflect how well they played. They did a great job,” said Byler. “They had a game planned that worked. We were just able to break it down and we’re lucky enough to get goals.”

When the final buzzer sounded Juniata outshot Penn Cambria, 25-4, and led in corner opportunities by a 6-0 margin.

In goal, Panther Cody Farabaugh finished with 16 saves while Juniata goalie Nolan Imes finished with three.

Juniata 4, Penn Cambria 1

PC 0-1–1

JUN. 2-2-4

Scoring:

First half

JUN – Cooper Adamire unassisted, 10:45.

JUN – Anthony Maradiaga unassisted, 9:30.

Second half

JUN – Maradiaga unassisted, 28:34

JUN – Jackson Shellenberger from Arthur Hazard 22:42.

PC – Nick Marshall unassisted, 8:08.

Shots on goal: PC – 4, JUN – 25.

Corners : PC – 0, JUN – 6.

Saves: PC – Cody Fardaugh 16, JUN – Nolan Imes 3.