There was a chance, if it all broke right, for the Fowler and Nottingham boys soccer teams to meet each other in the semifinals of the Section III Class A playoffs.
Doing so, though, would require the Falcons and Bulldogs to both win quarterfinal games on the road — Fowler against no. 2 seed Jamesville-DeWitt, Nottingham against no. 3 seed Chittenango.
Both pulled through the opening rounds, starting last Tuesday with Fowler shutting out no. 10 seed Homer 3-0.
In relatively mild late-October conditions, Heri Muke scored twice, helping the Falcons pull away from a modest 1-0 halftime margin. Lossing Jellue, Fowler’s leading scorer this fall, had one goal and one assist. Elijah Kumeh stopped all six shots he faced.
A night later, Nottingham, glad to be on its home artificial surface after a day-long rain, routed no. 11 seed Indian River 5-0.
Steeled by the Class AA competition it had faced in the CNY Counties League this season, the Bulldogs streaked to a 2-0 halftime lead and kept on going with a balanced, versatile attack that produced 20 shots on the night.
Five different players – Farid Alic, Abu Bility, Abdi Harabi, Kanyea Saon and Almedin Bektic — put in the five goals. Omar Mohamed, Elvedin Hasnovic, Pat VonLueninck and Werdy Mugaya earned assists, too.
Everything would turn around, though, in the Class A quarterfinals, where Fowler and Nottingham met defeat in varying ways, neither of them pleasant.
On Friday, the Falcons took no. 2 seed Jamesville-DeWitt to overtime, only to lose to the Red Rams 2-1.
Fowler got into early trouble when, seven minutes into the game, a poor clearing kick from goalie Elijah Kumeh allowed J-D’s Noel Williams to loft the ball over his head and into the net.
But the Falcons settled down and, for the rest of regulation, did not allow a goal despite all kinds of J-D chances. Fowler then got even when, midway through the second half, Jellue’s fast break and well-timed pass to the middle set up Heri Muke for the tying score.
They stayed 1-1 through the waning seconds of the first OT period. Positioned in front of the net, the Red Rams’ Tom Lukow took a perfect shot that fit inside the top corner of the net — and ended the Falcons’ season.
Nottingham’s exit came on Saturday, in a 4-0 loss to no. 3 seed Chittenango. The entire damage got rendered in the first half, when the Bears scored three times on goals by Dan Scavone, Nils Belting and Luke Greiner. In defeat, goalie Bijor Ajak had nine saves.
As this went on, Corcoran, the no. 7 seed in Class AA, went to Swan Pond on Thursday night and lost its quarterfinal to no. 2 seed Fayetteville-Manlius 3-0. Jon Boehm made 12 saves, but the Hornets used goals by Halie Marr, Anthony Restante and Tyler Forbes to prevail. The Cougars’ season finished with a record of 10-7.