By MIKE ROSE
Spencerport, NY – Spencerport was looking for someone to make a play late on Saturday night and Jayden Mandarano answered the call. The Rangers senior was able to break free with just minutes to play and chip home the game-winner to push the Rangers past the Gates Chili Spartans, 2-1.
It was a physical battle between the Class AA foes with the tone established early on. The style of the game was a surprise to Spencerport head coach Jody Wyant.
“It was a much more physical game than I thought it was going to be, that’s not the Gates team we faced last year in their style of play,” Wyant said. “You just got to be prepared. In Section V in AA, it’s a battle every night. You can’t look down the schedule and say ‘Oh that’s going to be an easy game,’ there are no easy games. There is just nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, nowhere to get away from anything.”
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Scoring chances were at a premium due to that style but one of the best chances early on came midway through the first half for the Spartans when a ball was played forward to Stephen Daniels. He met Dylan Cook at the edge of the box as both players went sliding after the ball and collided. Instead of a goal Gates Chili emerged from the sequence forced to play down a man for the final 59 minutes. On the other side, Cook was forced to exit after the play due to an injury, forcing Antonio Marsocci into action in his place.
Despite being down a man the Spartans held tough, limited scoring opportunities until Michael Tette broke the ice with a shot from distance that slipped through Spartans goalie Connor Hahn’s hands to make it 1-0.
The score held there through the first half and the second half was more possession dominance from the Rangers. An opportunity to blow the game open presented itself when Spencerport was awarded a penalty kick. Tette stepped up looking for his second goal of the game but missed the net wide. Two minutes later a penalty was awarded on the other side and Tommy DiMaggio knotted the game at one. The Rangers continued to push looking for the winner as the shorthanded Spartans were unable to generate any offense after tying the game. Manadarano eventually netted the winner.
“The whole game I kept going for in those diagonal runs and they kept being open but I just didn’t get the ball. That time I got the ball and I finished,” Mandarano said.
The loss dropped Gates Chili to 1-1 while the win was the first of the early season for the Rangers who were the No. 1 seed in Class AA last season and ultimately fell in the sectional finals to Churchville-Chili. Spencerport dropped its season opener to Penfield, 2-0.
“It’s huge, we needed that win,” Wyant said. “It’s a divisional game and we want to get going in the right direction. We’ve picked up four injuries in the last two games so we need to try and avoid that and get through the next couple weeks without getting any more guys injured. It’s tough, we need our full lineup but it’s just that mentality of next guy up.”
The Rangers will hope to recover and get healthy as they continue their season against Irondequoit on Wednesday. Gates Chili is back in action on Monday against Greece Odyssey.
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