By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mike Ellicott didn’t go far to find his game plan for Tuesday’s Class AA title game.
The seventh-year head coach of the Hilton Cadets looked to his players, and they provided the right scheme.
“The game plan worked better than I ever could have asked it to,” Ellicott said after Hilton defeated division rival Fairport , 2-0 in the 2021 Section V Class AA championship game. “The boys are so intelligent and adaptable in the game that it just makes my life very easy.”
Cody Cavuoto connected on a pair of first-half goals, and the Cadets won their third title under Ellicott.
“These boys know every frickin’ kid in this area inside and out and they’ve played with them,” Ellicott added. “They’re coming to me with stuff, answering stuff. I’ve never had such an educated soccer group that understands tactics and how to manipulate the game.”
Cavuoto ran on to a Jonathan Resnick pass in the 13th minute to give Hilton an early lead. Nine minutes later, the senior attacker followed a shot from teammate Anthony Inglese and one-timed the rebound into the back of the net.
“It’s unreal,” he said. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. Since I’ve been playing three, four years old this has always been my dream. To do it as a senior with all friends who I’ve been with throughout my whole life I can’t ask for a better team or a better feeling than that.”
The goals were Cavuoto’s team-leading 22nd and 23rd of the season.
“He’s had one thing on his mind and that is to bring this home,” Ellicott said of Cavuoto who scored the game winner in Hilton’s semi-final victory. “He sees people win titles and he’s known that he’s had his opportunities to win titles. For him, what a fitting night that he had both our goals. The support around him, he’ll be the first to say it, you can’t score those goals without Alec, without Jonathan, without Anthony. It’s a beautiful thing.”
22’ GOAL Make it 2 for Cody Cavuoto @HiltonSoccer 2-0 pic.twitter.com/VFfwQks19R
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 3, 2021
Hilton’s game plan, while simple word, forced the Cadets to play out of character.
“It was about counterattack, and the counterattack worked,” Ellicott stated.
“The biggest adjustment that we made was to let them have the ball, and that’s not our style. We’re a very possession-based team. We knew that if we gave them the ball, make them make mistakes and then just clean up on their errors, we were going to get chances. We got two goals off that.”
The teams split a pair of regular-season decisions with Fairport handing Hilton its only loss of the season, a 2-0 setback on September 24th. The Cadets responded with a 4-1 win on October 12th.
“We knew that if we didn’t make some adjustments in the way that we had played them in the first two games, that we were going to struggle a little bit,” Ellicott said.
Ellicott also knew that winning was going to take everyone on the Hilton squad understanding individual roles.
“Tonight, Alex Biscotti a senior came in and closed the first half, just like a closer in baseball. Close the second half and was just phenomenal in that role. He knew his job. He knew he was only going to get a period of time to come and do that, and he did it. Jaxon Markham was also told ‘you’re going to get a period of time and you need to do this job in that period of time. They were flawless. These kids are very unselfish, and they gave up all of their personal gains for the total gain of the whole team. I’ve never had a group like this before.”
Hilton junior keeper made five saves for the shutout, the Cadets’ second clean sheet of the post-season.
Big save: Ben Cronk pic.twitter.com/RkkG0d4gyj
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 3, 2021
For the Red Raiders (13-3-0), it was the their second-straight loss in the Class AA championship game.
“Hilton’s a good team,” said Fairport head coach Bill Teasdale. “They’re a quality team. They’ve got a lot of speed up top, and they demonstrated that tonight.
“We had a plan in place defensively and for the most part it worked. They really only got through once, twice and they finished their chances. We had a couple chances when it was zero-zero. The ball went across the goal mouth, and we couldn’t put it in. We had a few head balls on goal, but to their credit they finished their chances. We came up a little bit short.”
The title was the fourth in program history with the Cadets also winning in 1987, 2015 and 2018.
Hilton (17-1-1) will play Section VI champion Williamsville North (15-1-1) in the New York State Class AA Far West Regional. A spot in the state semi-finals will be on the line.
“We found all season long different ways to win,” Ellicott added. “That gives me the greatest amount of encouragement going forward and what we can do. We’re malleable.”
A 7:30 p.m. kick off is scheduled Friday night at Williamsville South High School.
Leave a Reply