Though the Fayetteville-Manlius boys soccer team may have caught up to Baldwinsville, it might have to wait until a Section III playoff showdown before passing them.
Weather would not allow the Hornets and Bees to finish last Tuesday night’s highly-anticipated showdown at Swan Pond, the game abandoned early in the second half with the two sides knotted at 2-2.
There was plenty of reason for hype. B’ville entered the night 10-0 and no. 5 in the state Class AA rankings. F-M was 9-1 and no. 12 in that same state poll, its only blemish a 3-0 defeat to the Bees at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium early in September.
Remembering how B’ville had dominated that first meeting from start to finish, F-M was far more aggressive from the opening kickoff of the rematch, constantly putting pressure on the Bees’ defense.
And that didn’t change even when Griffin Seeber flicked home a corner kick from the point in the 12th minute. Just 10 seconds later, Cheech Pagano worked through several B’ville defenders and sent a hard shot past Andrew Taylor to tie it, 1-1.
They continued going back and forth until the 28th minute, when F-M’s Ziad Abdul-Malak’s hard-angle shot from the right found its way into the net. Less than three minutes later, the Bees tied it again as Tyler Johnson converted.
At halftime, the teams were sent indoors for a 30-minute delay when lightning was spotted. Just as the delay ended and the second half got underway, rain and wind arrived, adding to the challenge for the rest of the game.
But that only lasted for 10 minutes. When officials spotted more lightning in the distance, again the game halted, this time for good, and both sides would await a possible playoff encounter.
On Thursday, F-M returned to action and shut out Liverpool 2-0, a goal in each half proving enough as Nino Pagano and Corey Gallagher put in those goals, while Logan Wilkinson got credit for an assist.
F-M’s battle with B’ville was far from the only big local contest of the first week of October. For the second time in as many months, Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa tested each other and put neighborhood bragging rights at stake.
J-D had claimed the first encounter 1-0 Sept. 12. The rematch, exactly three weeks later, took place at Spartan Stadium, and ESM got even, taking over in the second half to prevail 2-0.
Neither side generated many chances in the first half, but five minutes into the second half ESM’s Christian Moon did some superb dribbling in the left corner to keep the ball inbound and crossed to Matt Kenney, who headed it into the net past J-D goalie Matt Gera.
Instead of sitting on that 1-0 lead, the Spartans kept attacking, pressure that paid off when Moon put home the clinching goal in the closing minutes, assisted by Sean Belcher.
