In order to maintain its top spot in the OHSL Liberty division, the Westhill boys soccer team had to withstand challenges from two local rivals.

The most prominent, of course, was Marcellus, and the two sides gathered last Wednesday night on the Mustangs’ home turf, where Westhill assumed control early and kept it to prevail by a score of 4-2.

The key was a first half where Westhill seized a 2-0 lead. Following that, it matched all of the Mustangs’ charges – namely, goals by Sean Dunn and Keenan Vaughn – to maintain its margin.

Kyle Hunt, Anthony Scaravillo and Conor Powell each had one goal and one assist to aid Westhill’s cause, with Barak BenYehuda earning the other goal. Alex Conway had six saves, two less than Mustang counterpart Eric Degget.

Prior to that, Westhill’s offense exploded in a 6-1 win over Jordan-Elbridge. BenYehuda, quiet in the Warriors’ attack prior to that game, burst forward with three-goal hat trick, adding an assist.

Scaravillo, with one goal and one assist, offered the main help, while Steve Underwood and Owen Hennigan also converted. J-E’s Andrew Forward put his team on the board in the second half, as Jake Melfi and Colyn Hanley combined for 12 saves.

J-E also lost 5-0 to Skaneateles on Wednesday and fell 3-1 to Cazenovia Friday. In the latter contest, Javier Wood’s first-half goal made it close early, and Melfi made 13 saves, but the Lakers would pull away in the late going.

Also on Friday, Westhill went to Homer and shut out the Trojans 4-0. This was mostly Scaravillo’s show, as the senior put together a three-goal hat trick, with Pat Wickersham also finding the net. BenYehuda added an assist.

Marcellus broke out of its slump Saturday, taking out Solvay 4-0. Four different players – Vaughn, Tom McNaney, Kyle Jankowski and Matt Tice – put in those four goals, with Waite joining Vaughn and Jankowski in the assist column.

Solvay, for its part, had pushed Cazenovia to overtime before taking a 3-2 loss to the Lakers last Monday at Earl Hadley Stadium.

Thanks to Yuri Zdebskyy’s pair of goals, Solvay had come back from a 2-1 halftime deficit. Ryan Gardynski finished with 10 saves, only to surrender the Lakers’ overtime decider as Conor Race and Luke Dorsey led Cazenovia, each with one goal and one assist.

Westhill alum Tim Murphy is making an impact with Onondaga Community College’s men’s soccer team. Murphy had two goals and one assist in the Lazers’ 5-2 win over Hudson Valley CC early last week.