A recent strong run of play had bolted the Bishop Grimes boys soccer team to no. 5 in the state Class C rankings, and it was bent on defending that high standard.
The Cobras dominated last Tuesday’s match against Cato-Meridian, ripping past the Blue Devils 7-0 for its eighth win in a row.
Deng Mawien set a season mark for points, augmenting a three-goal hat trick by earning three assists. Not to be left out, Byam Mugushu had two goals and one assist, with Joe Schnur also getting a goal.
Early this week, Grimes would take on Manlius-Pebble Hill, who was already sporting a seven-game win streak when it hosted Tully last Monday afternoon, and once there it worked through the gloom to defeat the Black Knights 2-1 and improve to 10-2 overall.
Off a feed from Simon Hoke, Ayman El-Hindi drilled a 25-yard shot into the net in the first half to put the Trojans in front1-0, only to have Tully’s Keiran Patrick tie it just before halftime.
To regain the lead, MPH had Hoke take a pass from El-Hindi and put it past Black Knights goalie Nathan Zook in the second half. The Trojans held on from there, each of Ezra Hanlin’s nine saves important as Zook got 10 saves.
Against Cato-Meridian on Friday afternoon, MPH made it nine in a row, but in a far closer game than Grimes did as it held off the Blue Devils in a 3-2 decision.
Here, Gopal Neopaney would score twice, while Alex Fung got the other goal. Hoke had a pair of assists and Brendan O’Malley also had an assist as each of Hanlin’s six saves proved important.
In the week following East Syracuse Minoa’s rain-soaked 2-0 shutout of Jamesville-DeWitt on Oct. 3, the Red Rams would respond with a pair of shutouts against SCAC Empire division foes as ESM, by contrast, lost 6-1 to Pittsford Sutherland.
J-D hosted Oswego last Monday afternoon and blanked the Buccaneers 4-0, reigniting its attack with the help of several different players.
Zach McBennett, Jackson Carmen, Patrick David and Andrej Dovciak each put in goals, with McBennett adding an assist. Will Quackenbush and Aiden Scott earned assists as the Red Rams held Oswego to five shots.
Then J-D visited Auburn last Thursday and unleashed plenty of offense in the course of a 6-0 victory over the Maroons.
McBennett led the way, notching his first varsity three-goal hat trick. Helping out, Johnny Keib, Ben Collins and Alex Pomeroy had one goal apiece, with David and Dovciak earning assists.
A non-league game Saturday at Rome Free Academy had J-D getting its third win in a row by a 2-1 margin, with McBennett picking up his fifth goal of the week and David also converting. Carmen and Connor Ball earned the assists and Matt Gera recorded six saves.
Christian Brothers Academy took a heavy blow on Oct. 5 when it lost, 7-0, to State Class A no. 11-ranked PSLA-Fowler, but rebounded by venturing to Jordan-Elbridge last Tuesday night and getting all of its goals in the first half of a 3-0 victory over the Eagles.
Taking turns, Benito Vlassis, Jack Harrigan and Zach Witz earned those three goals, and the Brothers took 19 shots to J-E’s five.
Making it back-to-back wins on Thursday, CBA battled past Mexico 2-0, this time with goals from Jack Harrigan and Will Harrigan, each in the first half. Andrew Kohlbrenner contributed an assist as Rocco DeLorenzo was superb in the net, stopping all 10 shots he faced.
