East Syracuse-Minoa’s boys soccer team holds the Section III Class A crown after its unlikely 2011 run to the state final four. Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy are determined to snatch that crown from the Spartans’ head.
Now the three neighbors are all together in the Class A ranks after CBA, along with Fowler, moved down from Class AA, adding further excitement to every meeting between the trio.
In Fact, ESM meets both J-D and CBA this week, but only after all the sides got a chance to open their respective seasons with winning efforts.
Bad weather on Tuesday kept the Spartans from opening at Mexico, but the game was made up 24 hours later and ESM pounced, nearly reaching double digits on the scoreboard in a 9-0 romp over the Tigers.
It was 5-0 by halftime, but the Spartans kept going as seven different players found the net by game’s end as Jacob Kohlbrenner had two goals and one assist and Cole Belcher also scored twice.
Chris Schiavone and Sam Baadani both picked up one goal and one assist, with Jarrett Temple, Tyler Ott and Erik Langlois also getting goals. Esad Tihic, Irfan Tihic and Dane Greabell earned one assist apiece.
Back home Thursday night to face Cortland, the Spartans shook off the possible stress of back-to-back contests and, while the offense cooled off a bit, still managed to tame the Purple Tigers 3-0.
Much of the night was spent in Cortland’s end, where ESM kept seeing shots scooped up by Purple Tigers goalie Brian Litzenberger as he piled up 19 saves.
Still, the Spartans grabbed a 1-0 halftime lead and pulled away in the late going, mostly due to Dan Lewis, who scored one goal and assisted on tallies by Belcher and Baadani.
J-D, meanwhile, did get to play last Tuesday, against Fulton, whom ESM beat 1-0 in last fall’s sectional final. An impressive effort, especially in the second half, helped the Red Rams smash the Red Raiders 6-0.
Eager to start again after ESM knocked them off in last fall’s sectional semifinal, the Rams gradually took control during the first half, but only gained a 1-0 lead. Then Fulton’s defense fell apart in the latter stages, allowing J-D to constantly find the net.
Nigel Knox-Shellman had two goals in his varsity debut. John Maroney, Jordan Franklin, Luca Pelligra and Jordan VanStray also found the net, while Austin Zmolek and Mike Mulvilhill both earned assists.
Whatever good feelings about that win evaporated by Thursday, though, as Fowler arrived and used its speed and skill to jet past the Red Rams 3-1.
Even with its defense set up to withstand Fowler’s rushes, the Rams fell behind 2-0 by halftime and, despite a second-half goal from Anthony Episani off a feed from VanStray, J-D could not catch up.
Overall, goalie Morgan Sawyer made seven saves. Fowler’s Abdul Abdul scored twice, with Titan Butikima earning a pair of assists and Vincent Ndadaruta adding a goal.
CBA played its season opener at Homer the same night and acted in the opposite manner, getting five goals in the first half while beating the Trojans by that same 6-0 margin.
Ninth-grader Matt DePerro announced his presence with a pair of goals, leading a well-balanced attack. Four others – Andrew DePerro, Matt Marzocchi, Steve Castellini and Jake Dinger – also scored, with DePerro and Marzocchi adding assists. Will Brower, Zach Zajdel, Alex Chrisman and Austin Dukat got one assist apiece.
Just as impressive was the Brothers’ 4-0 victory over Fulton on Friday night. Scoring twice in each half, CBA saw Castellini, Joe Potenza, Matt DePerro and Andrew DePerro find the net, again showing the team’s depth in the attack.
