By PAUL GOTHAM
HILTON, N.Y. — The calendar read the second full week of September. The atmosphere surrounding LeBeau Field felt like the third week of October.
The 2018 version of the North Town Derby saw Greece Athena’s Trojans make the nearly eight mile trek west to take on neighboring rival Hilton. Two teams from different classifications that can’t meet in the postseason postured toe-to-toe in a match that had a playoff feel.
“That was played at a sectional level intensity,” Athena head coach Mike Butler said. “Both teams played pretty well. It was the best we’ve played so far out of the games.”
The Trojans Othman Belhseine opened the scoring in the 49th minute. Hilton’s Brett Wilkins connected on the equalizer less than nine minutes later.
“For a few minutes there it felt like a sectional final at times,” Hilton head coach Mike Ellicott commented. “They came in and disrupted what we do. They pushed us into playing a way that we don’t like to play. I’d much prefer to deal with that now in the comforts of home, in a non-divisional game in the second week of September.”
The two programs have combined to win four sectional titles in the past four years with Hilton taking the Class AA crown in 2015 before advancing to state semifinals. The Cadets claimed the Monroe County Division I crown in 2017 before falling in the sectional final to eventual undefeated state champ, McQuaid 2-1. The Cadets (4-0-1/3-0-0) entered play Tuesday ranked No. 10 in the state.
Pace of play and uptempo action continues between @athena_soccer and @HiltonCadets pic.twitter.com/9hnPzQbnwx
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 12, 2018
Athena notched three straight sectional titles from 2014-16 including a state-title run in 2014 and was looking for its second straight win.
“The first half was all them,” Ellicott said of Tuesday night’s affair. “I’m not in any sort of denial. I think we made a better game out of it second half. In the overtime, I felt we had our chances. First overtime period was there for the taking, and we just didn’t take it.”
Despite getting the better of the play in the first 40 minutes, Athena went into the break deadlocked in a scoreless tie. Belhseine took advantage of a second-chance opportunity to get Athena on the scoreboard. The junior attacker gathered a far post service from teammate Dylan Rice and managed to get a shot in traffic to beat Cadet keeper Joey Gombatto.
“I thought he almost got it,” Ellicott said of Gombatto. “It was a bit of defensive breakdown. We kinda left him hanging a bit.”
Nine minutes later, Justin Arilotta advanced to the touch line along the left side and played a cross to Wilkins for the redirect and equalizer.
58’ Brett Wilkins gets the equalizer for @HiltonCadets pic.twitter.com/0Tb2qQf5q7
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 12, 2018
For the final 22 minutes and change, the opposing squads took turns trying to net the go ahead.
“We were trying to get forward and hoping that they didn’t get the other way,” Butler noted. “We got some good contributions out of some young kids.”
Athena’s sophomore keeper Jared Burns steadied the the Trojans defensive effort.
“He was pretty confident back there,” Butler said of Burns. “He got off the line well. He had a couple of big, big plays.”
Make no mistake, though, the game extended to overtime because of Gombatto’s efforts between the pipes. The Hilton senior made a trio of game-saving stops in the final 10 minutes of play.
“He made some really strong saves for us,” Ellicott stated.
It looked like Rice would give Athena the edge when he slotted a shot far post from the right flank, but Gombatto went to the turf and barely deflected the attempt with his outstretched hand. Dylan McDermott let fly with a blast from the 18 that Gombatto punched out, and CJ Takatch wheeled through a tangle of defenders along the right side. Gombatto took away the near post to erase Takatch’s shot.
Joey Gombatto with the ???? out of a Dylan McDermott blast. @HiltonCadets pic.twitter.com/DhBCZEtcf3
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 12, 2018
“I don’t want to sound like that guy right now,” Ellicott said with a smile. “But we need that from him. He needs to be doing that for us. I think he understands that last year was a bit of an easy ride for him because he had such an experienced back four in front of him.
“We have a new back four. We’re going to have to ask him to make some saves from time to time. That is in his job description. I’m not taking anything away from the boy. He worked really well.”
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