By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — Juju Hunley connected in the 74th minute to complete a late rally, and No. 3 C. G. Finney defeated No. 14 Marion, 2-1 in Section V Class D first-round action, Tuesday afternoon.
Hunley one-timed teammate Sokseihak Leng’s cross from the right flank for the eventual game winner.
“The ball was coming straight to me,” the junior midfielder said. “I was like, this is it. Right here. I got to finish it off for my guy. He put it right to me, right down the line, and I just wanted to tap it in nice and slow and get my guys the dub (win).”
The goal was Hunley’s second of the year.
“I wanted to do it for all my teammates and all the fans and everybody that I love that came out to support us,” he said. “After I hit it, I closed my eyes and then saw the ball hit the back of the net.
“I honestly thought he (Marion keeper) tipped it. I saw it hit the back of the net and I heard everybody screaming. It was a crazy experience.”
With the win, Finney advances to play either reigning champ (No. 6 Fillmore) or No. 11 Mount Morris in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Finney beat Marion twice (3-2/3-0) during the season, but with 20 minutes remaining in Tuesday’s match, the Falcons trailed 1-nil.
“These guys like to give me a heart attack,” said Finney head coach Stephen Merritt who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday. “We started to loosen up a little bit, and we played the way we know how to play.”
Austin Phillips took advantage of a giveaway in the Finney backline to give Marion a 1-nil with 35:04 remaining in the contest.
Leng’s left-footed blast from 25 yards out leveled the match with 19:15 left on the clock.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for Finney (10-7-0).
“We were in kind of a bad run of form going into sectionals,” Merritt said. “It was a little bit tough to get us going, but these guys showed their quality at the end.
“It just shows you in high school ball you got to be on your A-game at all times.”
Leng’s goal was his sixth of the season. The sophomore also has two assists.
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