Each time the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa boys soccer teams clash, goals are precious and it’s bound to be close and tense.
These neighborhood rivals were set to meet once more last Saturday, with the Spartans eager to avenge a 1-0 defeat to the Red Rams just 10 days earlier.
But the increase in COVID-19 cases, and the fact that ESM’s school district fell into one of Onondaga County’s “yellow zones” of transmission, canceled that game and ended the season for bothsides.
J-D played Cortland Nov. 6 and blanked the Purple Tigers 3-0, with two of the goals coming from Ryan Brazell and the other from Andrej Dovciak. Jake Mone and Will Quackenbush had one assist apiece.
Even more impressive, from the Rams’ standpoint, was hosting reigning state Class B champion Skaneateles last Tuesday and rallying to earn a 1-1 draw with the Lakers.
Max MacCaull tied it in the second half, his goal assisted by Johnny Keib. That negated Aidan Chabot’s goal for Skaneateles, and neither side converted again, inclduing 20 minutes of overtime.
That same night, ESM met up with Central Square last Tuesday night, tearing up the Redhawks’ defenses with four unanswered goals in the first half on the way to a 5-1 victory.
It proved particularly memorable for Christian Moon, who three times in those first 40 minutes put shots past Central Square goalie Adam Cooney to earn a natural hat trick.
Not to get left out, Zach Shufelt and Evan deBerjeois also had goals, with Shufelt joining Jimmy Ferns and Jordan Sanson in the assist column.
Christian Brothers Academy picked up a late-season game when it visited Baldwinsville last Wednesday night, the Bees back in action after a 17-day break caused by a player contacting COVID-19.
Riding a six-game win streak, the Brothers could not extend it to seven, falling 3-2 to the Bees, who jumped out 2-0 in the game’s first 20 minutes thanks to goals by Malik Davis and Jake Daley.
CBA cut it to 2-1 by halftime, and struck again in the second half, but Evan Smith’s late goal allowed B’ville to hang on as Finn Wheeler recorded five saves.
In its homestretch, Bishop Grimes went from a 2-0 defeat to Tully on Nov. 5 to a match two days later against Bishop Grimes, the annual “Battle for the Bishops” with a trophy and bragging rights at stake.
The Gaelic Knights got the best of it, defeating the Cobras 4-0 as, throughout the warm afternoon, Ludden forward Michael Gaughan burned Grimes, netting all four of his team’s goals, two of them assisted by Sam Colella.
