A trio of noted boys soccer powers – Jamesville-DeWitt, Christian Brothers Academy and Fayetteville-Manlius – would interact within a 48-hour span in the last days of the regular season, with the Red Rams as the focal point.
First, J-D would take on CBA Thursday night at Alibrandi Stadium, seeking to grab a share of the OHSL Freedom American division regular-season title, but instead receiving a full dose of Matt DePerro in a 4-1 defeat to the Brothers, who finished its regular season with an 11-5 mark.
This was the lone regular-season meeting between these neighbors and rivals. And with CBA moving up to Class AA once the Section III playoffs started, plus the emotions of Senior Night for 13 seniors on the Brothers’ squad, there was plenty of energy from the outset.
A key to the early going was CBA goalkeeper Tim Schmitt making several point-blank stops on J-D star Jordan VanStry to keep the Rams from taking an early lead, and the all-senior starting 11 did not allow a goal for the Brothers before the regular starters entered.
But it was DePerro stealing the show, starting in the 29th minute when he broke free on a solo run and, taking a long pass from Malachi Emmanuel, dribbled down and fired a shot past D.J. Newman t put CBA in front. Then, less than three minutes before halftime, DePerro’s long throw-in from the right went to the middle, where freshman Ayo Oguntola poked it into the net.
Down 2-0 at the break, J-D appeared to get back in it when VanStry notched a goal 3:14 into the second half. But the normally reliable Rams defense again allowed DePerro to break free and again track down a long pass from Oguntola before streaking in for his second goal. To cap it off, DePerro assisted on Jake Dinger’s goal with 13:45 left.
The game between J-D and F-M would follow on a cold Saturday afternoon, The Rams were determined to maintain a streak where it had not allowed a single goal on it s home field all season, but the Hornets managed to break that run on the way to a 1-1 draw.
F-M got on the board in the first half, Seth Epling scoring the goal off a feed from Dan Murray. J-D countered with VanStry assisting on Tyler Lux’s goal, and they stayed that way through the entire second half and 20 minutes of overtime, unable to settle matters. The Rams moved to 10-4-1 on the season, while the Hornets went to 9-6-1.
Just before J-D paid a visit, CBA, missing some key players such as Oguntola and Jordan Knapp, made the short trip to Nottingham and found out why the Bulldogs are undefeated and no. 15 in the state Class AA rankings as it defeated the Brothers by a 3-0 margin.
Following a scoreless first half, Nottingham used its speed and skill to get around CBA’s defenders and convert. Claude Tuyishimire, whose overtime goal beat F-M earlier this season on that same Bulldog turf, scored twice, while Hassan Aden assisted on one of those goals and netted the other himself. Jean Claude Rukundo and Patrick Mugisha also earned assists as all eight of the Brothers’ shots got scooped up by Nottingham goalie Bhuwan Basnet.
Of course, the Brothers would rebound in a big way against J-D. That same night, F-M hosted Cicero-North Syracuse, looking to regain its footing against the main Class AA contenders – but taking a 3-1 defeat to the Northstars.
They had first met Sept. 1 at the Gillette Road complex and C-NS prevailed, 2-1. Here, they were close again in the first half, thanks to Jacob Koldin’s goal, assisted by Murray, that left F-M tied with the Northstars 1-1 going to the break.
Try as it could, though, the Hornets’ defense could not hold back the Northstars for the rest of regulation. A pair of second-half tallies put C-NS out in front, helping to overcome the nine combined saves from Mike Baril and Peter Schurman as Austin Mizell, Ryan Gilbert and Matt Pike notched C-NS’s goals.
For the sectional Class AA playoffs, F-M holds the no. 5 seed, set for a quarterfinal showdown with no. 4 seed Baldwinsville Thursday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium at 6 p.m.
These two sides met in the sectional final a year ago at Liverpool, and the winner could get Liverpool in this year’s semifinals if the top-seeded Warriors survive an opener against Rome Free Academy or Utica Proctor.
CBA, meanwhile, is the no. 7 seed in Class AA, needing to get past no. 10 seed Central Square Tuesday night at Albirandi in order to get a shot at payback against Nottingham, the no. 2 seed, in the quarterfinal round.
Finally, J-D has the no. 2 seed in Class A, facing no. 15 seed Camden in the first round Tuesday afternoon, with the winner to get Whitesboro or Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in the quarterfinals.
