EDINBORO – Mason Melaragno doesn’t get a chance to shoot often as a standout defensive player for Fairview.
When he gets his chance, he makes it count.
Melaragno fired a highlight-reel shot to the top corner of the net with just 4 minutes, 50 seconds left as the Tigers rallied to beat Cathedral Prep 4-3 for the District 10 Class 2A boys soccer championship on Wednesday at General McLane High School.
“I saw it pop up to me and I had to stay over it,” said Melaragno about the shot. “I had an opportunity in the first half and I got under it a little bit. I knew this time to stay over and it and it went in.”
The impressive goal capped a thrilling D-10 championship as Fairview earned its 13th title and fourth in the past five years. Fairview (19-2-0), which beat Prep three times this season, and the Ramblers (15-6-0) both move on to the PIAA playoffs on Tuesday.
Prep started out as the more aggressive team to take an early 2-0 lead. Max Johnson, one of the top players in District 10, served a long pass into the box, which sophomore Ethan Cain finished with a perfect header.
In the 24th minute, Johnson had another set piece in Fairview territory which sophomore James Disanza finished for a 2-0 Prep lead.
More:Fort LeBoeuf girls, Fairview boys advance to the District 10 2A soccer championships
More:District 10 girls volleyball, tennis and more results for the week of Oct. 28-Nov. 2
Instead of panicking, the Tigers went to work.
Jackson Chiocco scored the first of his three goals off a pass from Joey Chiocco one minute later to get Fairview on the scoreboard.
Then Chiocco took a long pass from Danny Lindenberger, made several nice moves and beat the keeper to tie the match with five minutes left in the first half.
“We had to keep pushing and it was great to get the match back to 2-2 before halftime,” Chiocco said. “Our mentality was to keep our composure and go score some goals.”
As the intensity picked up and the chances kept coming, Fairview used impressive ball movement to take the lead as Stefan Ninkovic found Chiocco, who ripped a shot past the keeper in the 65th minute.
Prep responded right away as Brandon Lin cleaned up a loose ball right in front of the net to even the match.
The rest is history as Fairview took the lead for good on Melaragno’s goal.
“You have to be ready when you play a great team like Prep and this was one of the best D-10 championship games I’ve ever been a part of,” said Fairview coach Sonny Vidakovic. “After we went down 2-0 the boys fought back and there were a lot of ebbs and flows of that game. It was great to see a big crowd and I think they enjoyed it more than we did as coaches with how intense the game was.”
Dixon leads Cathedral Prep to D-10 girls soccer title
EDINBORO – After 65 minutes of frustration, Olivia Dixon got her chance.
The Cathedral Prep standout not only broke through the tenacious Fort LeBoeuf defense to give the Ramblers the lead but she added an insurance goal as well.
Prep hung on to beat LeBoeuf 3-1 for the District 10 Class 2A girls soccer championship at General McLane High School on Wednesday. It’s the 12th D-10 title for the program and first as Cathedral Prep as the first 11 were won as Villa Maria.
The Ramblers (17-2-1) and the Bison (14-5-0) both move on to the PIAA tournament on Tuesday.
Prep took a 1-0 lead with 9 minutes left in the first half on an unusual goal. Cecelia Cacchione launched a perfect corner kick to Makenzie Prather inside the box. Prather put an impressive header on the pass to redirect it toward the net. The header ended up going over everyone’s heads, including the keeper, to find the net.
“I was like I have to get something out of this,” Prather said about the corner kick coming her way. “I wanted to get it into a high-traffic area but I didn’t expect it to go in.”
After several close chances to tie the match, Fort LeBoeuf finally broke through as Delani Miller found leading scorer Jenna Popowski, who used her left foot to find the corner of the net for the equalizer.
As the tension rose with a tied match, Dixon, who was bottled up by the Bison defense, finally scored after a run by Jordyn DiRaimo to give Prep a 2-1 lead.
A few minutes later, Dixon decided to launch a 40-yard shot to see what would happen and she placed it perfectly in the top of the net for her second goal.
“I didn’t think I’d get the first goal because Jordyn made a great run and I’m glad I was there,” Dixon said. “The second goal I honestly thought to just shoot it and see where it goes.”
Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNreisenweber.