WYNCOTE, PA – Roman Catholic sophomore Jared Dillon already has a PCL championship on his resume. And his next goal of securing All-Catholic honors is off to a promising start.
The forward/midfielder scored twice to help the Cahillites beat host McDevitt, 6-1, at Thomas Williams Park on Tuesday in Wyncote.
The win improves Roman to 2-0 in league play, while the Lancers fell to 0-2.
For Dillon, who also netted a goal against St. Joe’s Prep, there’s no better way to start the season.
“It feels good,” Dillon said. “Get my rankings up a little bit, trying to go for All-Catholic hopefully this year. I play with a bunch of good guys. They’re always by my side no matter what. It’s a good environment.”
After freshman Kieran Donnelly converted a corner kick with a pretty header to give the Cahillites a 1-0 edge, Dillon netted a rebound off a free kick to extend the lead.
McDevitt’s spirited defense made Roman work for time and space, but the Cahillites seemed to capitalize on any mistake, and junior Jared Fielding scored from long-distance to make it a 3-0 heading into the break.
McDevitt vs. Roman Catholic
Dillon opened the second half scoring with his second of the game before taking the rest of the afternoon off. The 4-0 lead allowed head coach Ray DeStephanis to empty his bench.
“You have a purpose early on in the game with your starters,” said DeStephanis. “You want to work the guys on the bench… maybe give them the chance to earn more minutes. You want to get to that because they’ve worked hard in practice. You want to get them that reward in a real game.”
McDevitt never stopped working either and got on the board midway through the half with a goal by junior midfielder/forward Daniel Fiorella. That seemed to give the Lancers some momentum, but Roman stole it back with goals by Matthew Uholik and Brandon Milbourne.
“After we scored it kind of woke them up and they came back at us again,” said McDevitt coach AJ Heintz. “The guys, they didn’t quit. It was good that they kept going at them and going at them. I thought we might be able to get a second one before they scored. It kind of took the air out of us after that.”
As for Dillon’s All-Catholic aspirations, he thinks his coach can help keep him on track with some tough love. Despite the two goals, DeStephanis was animated as he talked to Dillon about positioning late in the first half.
“I like that because then it makes me try harder,” Dillon said. “It makes me stay on my game at all times.”