CHAMBERSBURG — Despite giving up the majority of possession to Cumberland Valley and despite being outplayed for a large chunk of the game, Chambersburg had put itself in great position to win.

Luke Mason

The Trojans had tied the game 1-1 on a goal by Luke Mason with 27 minutes left and for the next few minutes were able to pressure the Eagles’ defense.

But play was stopped for an injured CV defender, and after the short break the Eagles turned it on, scoring twice to hand Chambersburg a 3-1 Mid Penn Commonwealth defeat at Trojan Stadium on Thursday night.

“We kept that momentum for about 10 minutes after our goal, but then we lost it,” Trojan coach Corey Grove said.

Cumberland Valley (5-1, 3-0 MPC) broke the tie with 16 minutes left when Patryk Nitecki zipped a cross into the box and Eric Kimmett headed it past Trojan goalkeeper Garrett Carter.

Zach Blocher put the finishing touch on the win when he ripped a shot into the upper right corner to give the Eagles a two-goal lead with five minutes remaining.

“They scored and then we responded,” CV coach Matt Billman said. “We’ve been in a lot of one-goal games and I’ve been telling them we need to get that third goal. That was a great shot by Zach for his first varsity goal.”

Chambersburg (4-2, 2-1 MPC) and the Eagles played a scoreless first half, and the closest either team got to scoring is when a CV defender had a ball ricochet off his foot and bounce off the crossbar.

The Trojans nearly got on the board early in the second half when Cole Myers struck a good shot, but CV keeper Luke Snyder dove to make a save.

Just five minutes in, the Eagles’ Eric Leach gained possession in his team’s left corner and sent a pass back toward the 18, and Evan Conrad drilled a shot into the net.

Grove said, “I thought technically they were on another level than us. We didn’t have enough touch, and we had trouble connecting on passes in the middle of the field. If we’re playing a better team, we have to make up for that with our work rate, and we didn’t do that.”

However, the Trojans managed to tie it up with 27 minutes left. Mikey Williams brought the ball up the left side, then dropped a pass to Mason, who cut inside and made several dribbles as the defense backed up, then smacked a hard shot on the ground into the right corner of the net.

But after that, the Eagles took charge.

“I thought we lost some communication and our shape wasn’t there because we got a little lazy at times,” Grove said.

Billman said, “We’ve played a tough schedule here early in the season and it’s refreshing watching the maturation of the kids. This is always a great atmosphere to play in here — for a classic Mid Penn Commonwealth game.”

Grove said, “I think we’re better than what we showed tonight; we didn’t execute well tonight. But … we’re young, and this was our fourth game in the last six days, and it was against the best team in the conference.”

Cumberland Valley 3, Chambersburg 1
Cumb. Valley                0   3   —   3
Chambersburg            0   1   —   1
Second Half
CV — Evan Conrad, asst. Eric Leach, 35:43
Ch — Luke Mason, 27:19
CV — Eric Kimmett, asst. Patryk Nitecki, 15:48
CV — Zach Blocher, 5:41
Shots — CV 10; Chbg 8. Shots on goal — CV 4; Chbg 5. Corner kicks — CV 3; Chbg 2. Saves — CV 4 (Luke Snyder); Chbg 1 (Garrett Carter).