Fifty years of bragging rights were celebrated at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium on Oct. 4 when Liberty High School’s 1975 Pennsylvania State Championship soccer team was lauded for bringing home the first team state title in school history after defeating North Allegheny, 1-0, on Nov. 15, 1975, at Reading Municipal Stadium.

Joe Kovacs, who traveled from Birmingham, Ala., to be at the ceremony, was the lone goal scorer in the state final 50 years ago.

“It’s cool. It’s really cool to see these kids again. It’s emotional,” Kovacs said. “A ball came across, and I tried to hit it as hard as I could, and I miskicked it, and it rolled over the line and into the net. It was elation from everyone. There was an All-American on their team, and we had a man who marked him the whole game and shut him down. We held them for the whole second half.”

In their march through states, Liberty defeated Palisades, 1-0, for the District 11 title. In the PIAA state tournament, Liberty defeated District 12’s Delaware Valley, 4-1, and District 3’s Hempfield, 4-2, before beating District 7’s North Allegheny to capture the crown.

Liberty head coach Jim Kennedy was only 24-years-old at the time and led the Hurricanes from 1971-1978.

“The kids were all great and still are. They practiced hard, and they played well,” Coach Kennedy said. “Back in that time period, we were so good, but we couldn’t beat Freedom. No matter how hard we tried, something would go wrong. In the first game of the year against Freedom, we played in a terrible rainstorm, and one of my players, Keith Jones, broke his leg. We lost in the rainstorm, and we never should have played, and then three weeks later, we beat them here, 2-0, and that win enabled us to be the East Penn champion, and then we ended up going all the way. I remember running out onto the field, and I was hugging cheerleaders. And then Potts’ Hot Dogs fed us. The bus stopped at around 10:00 in the evening, and we had all the hot dogs we could eat.”

During the Oct. 4 halftime of Liberty’s boys soccer game against Emmaus, Rep. Steve Samuelson presented the team a citation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to congratulate and pay tribute to Coach Kennedy, Assistant Coach Frank Tavares, and the members of the state championship Liberty High School soccer team.

“It was a nice day, and I’d like to thank Steve Samuelson for what he did for us, getting us recognition from the State House. That was wonderful. It’s just a perfect day,” said John Guidon, the 1975 team’s goalie. “Oh my God, no, I can’t believe it’s 50 years to be brutally honest. I was lucky enough to get a shutout thanks to my defense because when I played, I was 14-years-old. I had one saved off my line by one of my defenders. It was exciting. It was a good time. Back then when you played in states, there were no classifications. Every high school in the state of Pennsylvania had a chance to advance and play in the same game for the finals. It was just a good ending.”

The 1975 state champions who attended the 50th anniversary celebration on Oct. 4 are John Guidon, Dan Ferry, Andy McIntyre, Ray Seifert, Mike Barna, Scott Rodenbach, Lamar Dougherty, John Sitler, Dan Hoffman, Bob Belshaw, Keith Jones, Brian Petreski, Joe Kovacs, Matt Chase, John Figlear, Dave Priestas, assistant coach Joe Tavares, and head coach Jim Kennedy.