Okay, so a few things happened these past four days. Nothing big, though, except five football titles, 10 soccer titles, 10 cross country titles. three field hockey crowns and full swimming honors.
Such is Section III’s championship weekend, not a full plate, but rather an overstuffed buffet with too many tasty dishes to sample from, and not enough space in the stomach to handle them.
Since the doings in the Carrier Dome were already covered in the last entry, we focus here on the other championship heroes, and if you keep seeing Baldwinsville pop up, well, they seem to have mastered the fall. Try four championships in four days.
Of them, the accomplishment in boys soccer trumps because it’s now four straight titles. Stefan Merchant’s last-minute goal in regulation denied F-M again in a 2-1 decision, and just like 2009, B’ville avenged two regular-season defeats to the Hornets.
Three others had a chance to repeat – but only Hamilton, in Class D, pulled it off. Cincinnatus had upset Poland, but could not deny the Emerald Knights as it snagged a 1-0 victory and a three-peat on Dan Kraynak’s goal late in regulation.
Cooperstown could not find the same luck in Class C, leading top seed Manlius-Pebble Hill, only to see the Trojans tie it up and win it in overtime, 2-1, on Baird Hansen’s tally, set up by (who else?) Mike Kardjian. That’s 499 wins and counting for Don Ridall, and a win over Marathon in the regionals would mean the magic 500.
And who, other than New Hartford fans, was not happy to see Joe Roach finally get a sectional championship at J-D? Thirty-five years of coaching for Roach culminated in a 1-0 win over the Spartans set up by Noel Williams’ goal. As we’ll see, it culminated a soccer sweep for the Red Rams.
That Skaneateles-Clinton Class B showdown? All Lakers, as it blemished the previously unbeaten Warriors 2-0 with a dominant all-around effort. Too much speed, and too much skill as Skaneateles took four times as many shots, winning on the same Chittenango turf where it won back in 2008.
Now, to the girls side of it, all played at SUNY-Cortland on a weekend where each of the champions left little doubt as to who was in charge.
B’ville had to go back and forth with F-M, but the Bees reclaimed the top prize in Class AA with a 3-1 victory where the Firenze sisters, Jackie and Emma, got all the goals. For the Hornets, it’s two straight defeats in the finals, and now 14 years without a sectional title.
A day before the boys finally broke through, the J-D girls put on a Class A exhibition on Whitesboro. The 6-1 romp of the Warriors featured two goals from both Jessica Holmes and Tessa Devereaux, and it gives the Red Rams a chance to avenge that 2009 penalty-kicks regional heartbreaker with Burnt Hills.
It’s Marcellus again in Class B, and nothing for the Mustangs could be as sweet as knocking off its two main rivals to get the title – Skaneateles in the semifinals, then Westhill 3-1 in the title match. Freshman Brielle Filtch stepped up with the crucial goal and assist in the second half to put the title away.
Proving that it’s worthy of the state’s top ranking, Sauquoit Valley never gave up a goal on its way to a Class C sectional repeat. First, the Indians dismissed unbeaten Bishop Ludden 2-0, getting both goals in the first half, and then it blanked C-2 survivor Waterville 3-0 by waiting until the second half to get all three goals. Sierra Kiss scored in both contests.
And it’s Remsen standing triumphant in Class D after the top-seeded Rams survived the most exciting of the sectional finals against Copenhagen. Eighty minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of normal overtime went by 1-1, but in sudden-victory play Erin O’Connor converted, and Remsen prevailed 2-1 for its first-ever title, atonement for losing last year’s final to McGraw.
Up at CNS’s Bragman Stadium, field hockey titles went, as expected, to Cazenovia in Class C and Camden in Class B, the Lakers dropping New York Mills 7-0 and the Blue Devils dominating New Hartford 2-0.
But Baldwinsville (them again!) made some history, grabbing the Class A title for the first time by snatching the title from Rome Free Academy in a 3-1 game where the Bees proved faster, more aggressive and more energetic. Lindsey Varga’s two goals keyed the B’ville payback for getting beat 7-1 a by those same Black Knights a month earlier.
Hundreds of cross country runners descended upon VVS for the Section III races, which offered few surprises – but a few close battles at the top of the team standings.
With the girls, it always starts with F-M, as it placed 9 of the top 13 runners in Class AA. J-D hung on to its Class A title in the face of the combined Westhill/Bishop Ludden effort, while Cazenovia proved the new rulers of Class B by sticking together in groups. Tully won a great clash with Holland Patent, 51-56, in Class C, and Remsen did the same by fighting off Fabius-Pompey 35-41 for the Class D championship.
Two defending state champions, F-M (in Class AA) and Holland Patent (in Class C), rolled to easy wins in their respective boys cross country sectionals, as did Marcellus in Class B and Beaver River in Class D. Only the small Class A race offered any team suspense, with the merged Westhill/Ludden entry edging J-D 54-56.
And in the Section III swimming championships at Nottingham, it was CBA to the forefront, led by Summer Schmitt’s double individual titles and taking part in two winning relays. Liverpool’s Becky Evangelista also won twice, and 25 swimmers and divers earned trips to the state meet in Buffalo.
Which leads us to the single most extraordinary feat of the entire fall. Remsen, as noted, won the Class D girls cross country and girls soccer championships. Six athletes – Lizzie McGough, Maria Roberts, Emily Runninger, Emily DeVenezia, Ashley O’Connor and Erin O’Connor – were members of both teams.
This means that they ran early in the afternoon at VVS, took the sectional honors, then got on a bus, met their soccer teammates at a Thruway exit, kept going to SUNY-Cortland and won another championship (in overtime, no less) just hours later. When have you ever seen that before?
Now that Remsen sextet will run at the state meet this Saturday in Pawling at 10:45 a.m., then again find that bus and spend nearly four hours on it before getting to Chittenango for the regional soccer game against Milford at 6 p.m. that night. If ever a group of athletes will have earned rest, they will have.
