A single defeat, to PSLA-Fowler on Oct. 4, forced the East Syracuse Minoa boys soccer team to drop all the way down to no. 20 in the state Class A rankings, well back of Christian Brothers Academy, who rose to no. 9 after its Oct. 6 win over Fayetteville-Manlius.
Yet it’s the Spartans who have the top seed in the Section III Class A playoffs, and it could meet Jamesville-DeWitt in the quarterfinals if the Red Rams get past Central Square in the first round.
What’s more, CBA holds the no. 4 seed in Class A. The Brothers will meet no. 5 seed Whitesboro in the quarterfinals, which could lead to an ESM-CBA semifinal if the home teams hold serve.
Before all this, the Brothers hosted Cazenovia Thursday night at Alibrandi Stadium, where Matt Potenza, Ben Vlassis and Ayo Oguntola led the way toward a 3-1 victory over the Lakers.
Despite a first-half goal by Cazenovia’s Joe Spires, CBA went in front 2-1, and while it contained the Lakers the rest of the way, it doubled that margin.
Potenza scored two of the Brothers’ three goals, with the other going to Oguntola, who assisted on one of Potenza’s two tallies. Vlassis got two assists.
Then, earning more local bragging rights, CBA beat J-D 2-1 on Saturday afternoon, breaking a 1-1 tie in the second half after Joe Bertone put the Red Rams on the board early. Potenza and Dan Melvin scored for the Brothers.
ESM was back in action last Tuesday at Oswego, ripping past the Buccaneers 6-0 as, once again, Kyle Scalzo proved unstoppable, adding two goals and one assist to his total.
Todd Durantini and Aiden Tedesco each contributed one goal and one assist, with Sean Belcher and Zach Christian also converting. Nick Federico and Connor Stark also earned assists.
Hosting Cortland on Thursday, ESM nearly saw its Senior Night festivities spoiled, but took charge with a 12-minute outburst to beat the Purple Tigers 3-1.
Neither side scored in the first half, but early in the second half Grayson Jones converted and Cortland led, 1-0. As it turned out, that goal was just what ESM required.
With 19 minutes to play, Scalzo, off a feed from Sean Belcher, scored to tie it. Seven minutes later, it was Belcher netting the go-ahead goal, his 25th of the season, as Lance Madonna assisted, and with 7:26 left Durantini put in the clinching goal as Jake Longo assisted.
In Friday’s game against Pittsford Mendon (Section V), ESM pulled out a 3-1 victory, keyed by a big first half where Scalzo and Jacob Longo scored to build a 2-0 advantage. Durantini’s second-half tally thwarted a Mendon rally.
Before it lost to CBA, J-D nearly pulled off what ESM could not do twice – namely, defeat PSLA-Fowler, only to get caught late and take a 3-2 overtime defeat to the Falcons at Burnet Park.
Joe Bertone took charge early for the Red Rams, netting one goal and assisting on the other, by John Roosa, with Anthony Barbuto assisting on Bertone’s tally.
Yet J-D’s 2-1 halftime lead did not hold. PSLA-Fowler kept probing and, with a minute left in regulation, tied it on Dieu-Veut Mushefu’s goal. Then, in the first OT period, Cyrus Etheridge put the game-winner past Logan Roadarmel, who to that point had earned seven saves.
At Oswego two nights later, J-D would not quite get the margin ESM did, but it still beat the Bucs 2-0 as Bertone took charge in the second half, putting in both of the Rams’ goals as Jackson Carmen got an assist.
Bishop Grimes remained at no. 11 in the state Class C rankings, even after it was played to a 0-0 draw by Bishop Ludden on Oct. 7.
The Cobras found itself stifled by Ludden’s hard-nosed defense throughout 80 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. Josh Bianchi stopped all eight Grimes shots he faced.
On Thursday, Grimes faced Faith Heritage and, again, ended up in a tie, this one a 1-1 decision. They were scoreless until the second half, when Deng Mawien converted for the Cobras, but the Saints also found the net thanks to Mateo Baker’s goal. Ethan Fritz made seven saves.
Grimes did stumble on Saturday in a 4-0 defeat to Chittenango, where Fritz made 23 saves, but could not keep everything out as Jan Hartman led the Bears with two goals and one assist.
And when the Class C sectional bracket came out, Grimes had the no. 5 seed, paired with no. 12 seed West Canada in the first round as the winner would get Beaver River or Dolgeville in the quarterfinlas.
Manlius-Pebble Hill could not get on the board in last Wednesday night’s game at Fabius-Pompey, taking a 3-0 loss to the state Class D no. 7-ranked Falcons.
The Trojans only took four shots all night, and while it minimized F-P’s opportunities for long portions of the game, the Falcons still converted three times as Jameson Andrews, Kewan Troutman and Dylan Fredenburg earned the goals, Andrews adding an assist.
But MPH did beat LaFayette 2-1\in overtime on Friday, trading second-half goals before winning it in the extra period as Grant Lewis and Charlie Mann scored for the Trojans, with Brendan O’Malley adding an assist.
MPH drew the no. 4 seed in the Class D sectional playoffs and hosts no. 13 seed Blessed Virgin Mary in the first round. Win here, and the Trojans host Belleville-Henderson or Owen D. Young in the quarterfinals.
