By PAUL GOTHAM
Monday night’s Monroe County boys’ soccer game pitting the Churchville-Chili Saints against the Pittsford Sutherland Knights was supposed to be a matchup of contenders who could only meet in the postseason if both squads reached the Class A Far West Regional qualifier.
That changed Monday morning.
It’s not that Sutherland and Churchville don’t qualify as contenders. They do. The sides can meet in the playoffs. It just won’t happen in the Class A qualifier. That match will not happen this season.
Section V boys soccer announced Monday that the A classification will not be split this season. Batavia and Alexander combined for boys’ soccer in the past. Those two schools do not have the same arrangement this season, and Batavia will compete in B1. With the Blue Devils move, the number of Class A schools participating is reduced.
“When there are 18 schools, you split into two classes,” Section V boys’ soccer coordinator Gary Pollock explained. “When there are 17 schools, we are only allowed to have one class. That’s consistent with the Section V classification policy. It was a clerical mistake. Once we corrected it, we moved the A classes to now be combined into one. One very strong class.”
Sutherland, the Section V Class A2 champion and eventual NYS Class A semifinalist a year ago, woke up Monday as the top seed in Class A2. The Knights went to sleep Monday as the eighth seed in Class A.
“It’s obviously a big change for us,” Sutherland head coach Sean Hopkins said. “It’s a big difference for us being combined than being in A2.”
Sutherland beat Honeoye Falls-Lima in the 2017 A2 finals. Those two squads along with semifinalists Aquinas and Wayne will move into the A bracket as well as East and Wilson which also played in A2 last season.
Brockport beat Brighton in last season’s A1 championship. The Barons, Blue Devils, Canandaigua, Eastridge, Greece Arcadia, Greece Athena, Irondequoit, Pittsford Mendon and Spencerport comprise the A1 sides from last year which will be in Class A this year.
“At the end of the day, I think this is how you find your best team,” Hopkins noted. “You put everybody together, and you see who can come out of a four-game battle. You could have four really, really tough games to be the champion. If you’re the champion, then you definitely deserve it this year.”
Churchville-Chili competed in Class AA last season. If sectionals opened today, the Saints would be seeded second in Class A.
“It’s going to be a gauntlet for all of us,” C-C head coach John Mahoney said of next month’s sectionals. “Anybody has to win four games to win the sectionals.”
Vertus rounds out Class A for 2018.
Class A sectionals will open on Tuesday, October 16th when the No. 16 and 17 seeds meet for a play-in game.
“I still think that we have a chance of winning an A bracket,” Hopkins added. “It obviously just got a lot more difficult.
“We just want to win. We want to win it all and whether that’s in A1, A2, playing each other in a regional game or just winning a Class A championship, it’s the same thing at the end of the day.”
Arcadia debuts at No. 8 NYSSWA poll; Hilton and Williamson climb a spot apiece
Since dropping their season opener, the Greece Arcadia side has won six straight (five prior Monday’s release of the state rankings). The streak impressed voters as Arcadia went from unranked in Class A to No. 8 in this week’s poll. Despite dealing with injuries (the click-clack of crutches is becoming part of the Titan ensemble) especially to their backline, Matt Vergamini’s squad has five clean sheets through Monday’s win over Edison Tech. Arcadia travels west on Latta Road to take on rival Greece Athena, Wednesday afternoon for a 4:30 PM start. Tyler Lewandowski paces Arcadia’s offense with 14 goals.
Another @SectionVsports game 13WHAM-TV Sports cameras were at this weekend was @GreeceArcadia hosting @ERidgeLancers in BSOC. ● @TylerLew14 pic.twitter.com/bCgpfBYmrw
— Matt Trabold (@TrabsMatt) September 17, 2018
Hilton moved up a spot to No. 9 in Class AA. The Cadets have a key Monroe County Division I matchup with Fairport later this week. Speaking of Fairport – the Red Raiders should have a sizable block on their collective shoulders when they arrive at LeBeau Field on Thursday.
Despite winning their only two matches last week, Fairport (7-1-0/4-1-0) dropped out of the top 20. This after being ranked No. 16 last week. Guess the voters weren’t impressed that the Red Raiders needed to rally late to beat Gates-Chili. Worth noting Fairport beat Rush-Henrietta, 1-0. The Royal Comets ended McQuaid’s 27-game unbeaten streak, Tuesday night.
John Mahoney and his Churchville-Chili Saints can commiserate with Fairport’s plight. The Saints shut out Irondequoit (6-nil) and Victor (2-nil) last week. What did they get? A drop from No 8 to 13.
Bath-Haverling (6-0-0) moved from No. 11 to No. 4 Class B. Greece Odyssey dropped from No. 5 to No. 6 in Class B.
Williamson (8-0-0) remains Section V’s highest ranked side in the state poll coming in at No. 3 Class C. The Marauders trail to Red Creek on Friday for a 7 PM tilt. Despite losing to Geneseo, Byron-Bergen/Elba stayed at No. 11. Geneseo lost in earlier in the week, but that victory over B-B/E kept the Blue Devils in the poll dropping two spots to No. 17.
Avoca (9-0-0) is ranked No. 7 Class D followed by C.G. Finney (8-0-0) at No. 8, Mount Morris (7-0-0) at No. 11 and Belfast (6-1-0) at No. 15.
Video Goodness
This comes courtesy of McQuaid’s John Marangola:
WARNING: Extended viewing could cause a loss of balance. John Marangola. @McQuaidJesuit pic.twitter.com/0oVDp30JK1
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 16, 2018
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