Here, in front of the Bishop Grimes boys soccer team, is a glorious opportunity to shrug off past disappointments and make a serious push for the Section III Class C championship.
The state Class C no. 6-ranked Cobras made another big statement last Tuesday by going to state Class D no. 13-ranked Manlius-Pebble Hill and, with Byam Mugushu’s hat trick, defeating the Trojans 4-1.
Grimes handled MPH 6-2 earlier this season, and got the lead here barely four minutes into the game when Mugushu converted, only to have the Trojans counter with Simon Hoke’s strong move to the net and goal.
Mugushu scored a second time in the 18th minute, and the Cobras led 2-1 at halftime, helped in no small part by Matt Tarby’s diving save on Jack Hogan’s point-blank shot late in the half.
Not until midway through the second half did Grimes get away, Deng Mawien ripping in a point-blank shot and, seconds after another fine stop from Tarby, Mugushu breaking away to earn his third goal of the day.
This followed a 2-0 win over Nottingham on Oct. 12 where Grimes again turned to Mugushu, who tamed the Bulldogs by earning both of the Cobras’ goals.
And the win over MPH was followed, on Friday, by Grimes taking on Chittenango and, once again, the duo of Mugushu and Mawien impossible to contain in a 6-4 Cobras victory over the Bears.
Improving to 13-3 overall, Grimes fought its way to a 4-2 halftime lead and matched Chittenango’s production the rest of the way, Mugushu tacking on four more goals to his total and Mawien earning the other two, each adding an assist.
Meanwhile, on a soggy Thursday afternoon MPH lost again, Bishop Ludden topping the Trojans 3-0. A goal in the first half and two more in the second half proved enough as Liam Casey, Noah Kerwin and Michael Gaughan scored for the Gaelic Knights.
Christian Brothers Academy and East Syracuse Minoa both won last Tuesday with shutouts as the Brothers blanked Skaneateles 1-0 and the Spartans handled Cortland 5-0.
It proved a tough game between CBA and Skaneateles, with lots of chances on both ends, but only Jack Harrigan scoring in the second half off a feed from Andrew Kohlbrenner. None of the Lakers’ 12 shots got past Rocco DeLorenzo.
Following this up on a chilly, wet Thursday night, the Brothers blanked Homer 4-0, with goals from Srvavan Kodaali, Isaiah Lerch and John Vassenelli that helped showcase the Brothers’ growing depth. That improved CBA’s overall record to 9-6-1.
As for ESM, it saw its top scorer, Sean Belcher, put away Cortland with a three-goal hat trick. Other goals went to Christian Moon and Lance Madonna as Matt Kenney picked up a pair of assists.
ESM closed its regular season 10-4-2 at the tail end of an up-and-down stretch. The Spartans had lost 3-1 to Central Square on Oct. 8, but rebounded to top Oswego 4-1 a day later before a 6-1 defeat to Pittsford Sutherland.
Jamesville-DeWitt finished its regular season Saturday, against Cortland, and it ended in a 2-2 draw.
Then the sectional Class A playoff pairings were released, and J-D found itself, as the no. 6 seed, slotted into a quarterfinal Thursday night against no. 3 seed ESM, the two side having split their regular-season encounters.
Meanwhile, CBA got the no. 9 seed and would need to beat no. 8 seed New Hartford for a quarterfinal berth against top seed PSLA-Fowler.
In Class C, Grimes earned the no. 2 seed and would host no. 15 seed Otselic Valley, with the winner getting Thousand Islands or Herkimer. MPH, the no. 4 seed in Class D, would host no. 13 seed Hamilton, the winner to take on Cincinnatus or Stockbridge Valley.
