ONONDAGA COUNTY – Having eyed each other all season without meeting too much, the Christian Brothers Academy, East Syracuse Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt boys soccer team were all set to go after the Section III Class A championship
Before that took place, though, ESM and J-D would go head-to-head last Thursday in a Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division championship match, where the Red Rams prevailed 2-0 over the Spartans.
Though J-D did a solid job containing most of ESM’s chances, it could not keep Joel Alvarez, the Spartans’ top scorer, from converting twice for both of the night’s goals.
Then it was CBA entering the local fray when it faced J-D Saturday night, and again showing its all-around quality when it beat the Rams 4-0 to finish a 15-0-1 weekend.
Racing to a 3-0 advantage by halftime, the Brothers ultimately got goals from four different players – Connor Morgia, Andrew Kohlbrenner, Caleb Buddle and Zack Walma.
Anchoring the attack, Santiago Betancourt-Trompa dished out three assists, With Zack Mulhern adding an assist as Finn Wheeler and Ryan Petrie combined to stop all 10 of J-D’s shots.
Before this, the Brothers, who rose to no. 10 in the latest state Class A rankings, went up against undefeated Watertown IHC last Tuesday night and handed the Cavaliers its first defeat of the season by a 4-1 margin.
J-D, who still hadn’t cracked the state rankings despite its 11-1-1 record, improved on it last Tuesday night with a 3-0 victory over PSLA-Fowler.
Those three Red Rams goals came from three different players – Mahir Bechir, Emile Antoine and Kyan Barbuto. T.J. Tanner picked up an assist as J-D’s defense held the Falcons to five shots, all stopped by Sam Allen.
The loss to CBA hurt a bit – but J-D could avenge it since it holds the no. 3 seed in the sectional playoffs and the Brothers have the no. 2 seed, each facing quarterfinals late this week – CBA against Fulton, the Rams against Watertown.
Above them, ESM, holding the no. 1 seed, would await the winner of an opening-round game between no. 8 seed Carthage and no. 9 seed Indian River in its quarterfinal round.
