BOYS SOCCER: Bates, Lewis and Springfield Township soccer ride second-half fireworks past OJR and into 4A district semis

BUCKTOWN — As a freshman in 2023, Nate Lewis played a couple of minutes in Springfield Township’s double overtime PIAA 3A state final loss. He took a break from the sport his sophomore year when the boys soccer program ascended to 4A, where the Spartans nabbed a top three seed in districts but failed to advance past the quarterfinals and playbacks, ensuring there would be to trip to states.

Whether or not Lewis was the secret ingredient in this whole operation isn’t really the point – he just knew that he needed to come back this season and finish what he and Springfield started two years ago.

Lewis scored the first of three second-half goals for Springfield and Harry Bates scored as well while assisting on the team’s other two goals as the Spartans took the wind from third-seeded Owen J. Roberts’ sails in a 3-0 blitzkrieg in Saturday morning’s District 1-4A quarterfinals. The result stunned the Wildcats and sent them to playbacks just like the Spartans a year ago, while sixth seed Springfield advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals, where they will host No. 7 Abington with a berth in the district final on the line.

“It means a lot – I took a break my sophomore year and didn’t play,” Lewis said afterward. “Coming back to make states again is an awesome feeling.”

Springfield is one of the enormous Suburban One League’s smallest schools, and while boys soccer competes amongst the largest classification due to the total number of males in the student body, most of the other programs compete against a class down or two from the big dogs. But so far in districts, Springfield (total student body shy of 600) has knocked off SOL rivals North Penn (nearly 3,200) and Souderton (almost 1,700), and now OJR (pushing 1,400).

“We’re a borderline 2A school playing in the 4A playoffs – and winning,” Bates said. “That’s ridiculous. We’re on a good journey and we knew coming in that we were a strong team with a very, very tough schedule. That’s probably how we got the 6 seed – we lost a couple of games. It shows that Springfield is a soccer school now.”

The first half Saturday concluded without any goals on either side, but the Spartans (16-4 overall) had more offensive chances and were the better passing team than the Wildcats, who were starting junior Marcus Rossman in goal after senior starter Michael McCormick injured his arm against Phoenixville in Thursday’s second round.

Bates — whose penalty kick was the difference in the Spartans’ 1-0 second round win — and Lewis both said the team recognized some weaknesses in the OJR operation that it could exploit if they could make the proper halftime adjustments. Those changes yielded almost immediate results as Bates blasted a shot that Rossman got a hand on but couldn’t fully snare, allowing an opportunistic Lewis to bury the rebound for a 1-0 lead with 35:19 on the clock.

“We saw big gaps behind the center backs – we knew some of them were shaky on the ball and tried to press as high as we could,” Bates said. “I chested around a defender, got a shot on goal – the keeper made a great save and Nate’s in there to tap it in. That’s what we do.”

“We knew from earlier stuff that the keeper fumbles the ball,” Lewis added. “Anytime we get a chance for a rebound that’s what we do, and I’m there.”

Against Phoenixville on Thursday, the Wildcats (15-5-1) fell into a 1-0 hole before rebounding for two quick goals in an eventual 3-2 win. But there was no response from the home team on Saturday, and the Spartans struck again just over eight minutes later.

Deep in the OJR defensive zone, the Wildcats tried to clear the ball from near the end line but failed to do so, allowing Lewis to gain possession and play it back to Bates, who crossed the ball to the middle of the box where Patrick Schugsta was there to hammer home a deflection with 27:06 left in the second half.

Less than four minutes after that, the Wildcats committed a foul in the box, sending Bates to the 6-yard line to insert the dagger, just as he did earlier in the week against Souderton.

“It’s a forward’s job,” he said. “If you get a penalty from six yards out, you have to bury it. That’s your job.”

For OJR, the result was a bitter pill to swallow. Thursday night’s win put the program into the district quarterfinals for the first time in school history, and the Wildcats certainly had hoped for more to show for their top three seed in the bracket. Their season is not over, however, as the team will now have to win two playback games to qualify for states, beginning with No. 15 Downingtown West on Tuesday night. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Lower Merion-Great Valley playback, with whoever prevails in that one next Friday earning the district’s fifth and final 4A spot into states. As the highest remaining seed in playbacks, the Wildcats would host both days.

“You get to this part of the season and you’re only going to get a handful of opportunities,” Wildcats head coach John McCormick said. “We had a couple of pretty good ones and couldn’t quite put one in. It seems like we lost a little bit of energy whenever they scored that first goal. We made two mistakes and they buried them; it’s a fine line.”

McCormick also noted that the Wildcats have not lost two games in a row all season, so even if they’ve dropped two of the past three, this group still believes in its potential and resiliency.

“I’ve got no room in my life for excuses or being a victim,” McCormick said. “Within hours of being disappointed we lost the league (to Phoenixville), we were going to try to win the district. Hours after losing the district, we’re going to try to make states and make some noise. Most teams at the beginning of the season would sign up for that.”

A reward for their continued efforts now gets the Spartans a home game in the district semifinals, with the Springfield-Abington winner taking on the winner of West Chester Henderson-Haverford in Saturday’s district final.

“It’s awesome,” Lewis said. “We get to come out as (basically) a 2A soccer school and show the bigger schools what we can do as soccer players.”