By:
Liam Belan
Tuesday, October 7, 2025 | 11:07 PM
Jeff Helsel | Mon Valley Independent
Charleroi’s Otis McIntyre celebrates a goal against Yough on Tuesday.
It was a bizarre night of soccer at Yough Stadium as two sets of Cougars in Charleroi and Yough played their scheduled match as well as the remaining 4 minutes, 14 seconds of their previous encounter Sept. 11 that was postponed because of unruly fans.
Yough opened up the night with a win as it closed out its 1-0 lead from almost a month prior. Isaac Pacacha scored the only goal in that one to put the home squad in reach of the Section 4-2A title, but Tuesday night’s 4-0 victory for Charleroi (12-3, 11-1) eliminated that chance for Yough (10-4, 9-3).
The away Cougars spoiled senior night for a fantastic Yough class in a dominant showing as Blake Pendo bagged two goals and Otis McIntyre and Adolph Noel each added one. McIntyre assisted on one of Pendo’s tallies as the forwards for Charleroi were generating plenty of chances for Yough goalkeeper Russell Wieland to fight.
“I thought our boys were well prepared tonight,” Charleroi coach Tim Laskey said. “They were hungry, and they played a well-possessed and aggressive game tonight. You can rely on (those forwards) every night, but it’s 11 men on the field, and when they work in unison, any one of them can do their part.”
Yough coach Ron Dushack looked at the season split with Charleroi in a positive light, saying it clearly showed growth from the program.
The Cougars also celebrated seniors Dyllan Bennett, Jake Booher, Jayden Goulding, Ty McClelland, Wyatt Miller, Ryan Sarver, Tadhgan Small, Blake Sullivan, Brandon Travillion and Skyler Woloshun as they were the first senior class Dushack coached all the way through.
“This group is awesome,” he said. “We had eight players graduate in the last two years combined, so I told these guys that they would get a lot of playing time over the years. They’re a really solid group, and they’re great leaders. It’s been my privilege to coach them, as it is with all my players.”
McIntyre wasted no time opening the scoring as he took a throw-in and dribbled left until he found enough space to hit a left-footed strike that Wieland couldn’t keep out, making it 1-0.
Later on in the half, Dylan Klinger and McIntyre forced some impressive saves from Wieland before Yough came close to scoring with a few chances.
A cross from Noah Jurcevich found the head of Jayden Goulding, who just fired his effort wide to avoid what could’ve been a massively important goal. Then, with two minutes left in the first, the Charleroi center backs looked to play a pass, but the sloppy conditions from the relentless rain hampered the effort and Jake Booher took off with the ball. He found Pacacha, but his strike went over the crossbar to pardon the Charleroi mistake.
The visiting Cougars took control of the match from there with three second-half goals.
They showed great link-up play about six minutes into the final 40 when Noel found McIntyre, who laid it off to Pendo before he slotted a shot past Wieland into the bottom left corner to make it 2-0.
Then, with 18:22 left to play, Pendo was played through well and looked to have a goal, but Wieland denied him. Unfortunately for Yough, the rebound fell right back to Pendo, who was able to crush it home and make it 3-0.
From there, Noel dribbled through the Yough box and somehow fit a left-footed shot inside the left post of Yough’s net to conclude the scoring with 6:11 to play.
Moving forward, Charleroi will face Derry on Thursday, and Yough will play Waynesburg Central the same night.