By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — Jacob Derose found the back of the net twice, and No. 4 C.G. Finney (10-6-1) advanced with a 4-nil win over No. 5 Keshequa (10-7-0) in Section V Class D1 quarterfinal action, Friday afternoon .
With the win, Finney advances to play either top-seeded Northstar Christian or No. 8 Campbell-Savona in the semifinals.
“Everybody has been kinda jittery all day in school,” said 13-year head coach Stephen Merritt. “It was good to get over this hump. I said to the team, I’ve never beaten Keshequa. That’s the team we run into in sectionals? I was like oh, no.”
Derose connected in the first half and then added to the lead less than 12 minutes coming out of the break when the sophomore forward, running far post, redirected a Judaea Danesi cross from the right wing.
Seihak Lang gave the Falcons some breathing room with 13:04 remaining in the contest when he notched his eighth goal of the season.
“It’s a credit to these guys beating a team (like Keshequa) that’s organized,” Merritt said. “They’ve done it before. Their coach (Ron Macomber) has been there before.
“A lot of these guys are inexperienced at the sectional level. Just seeing the maturity that they showed. It would have been really easy to get frustrated in the first half with the amount of chances we had, but to show the composure to put the game away in the second half, I can’t say enough about that.”
The win was the fifth in the past six games for the Falcons with all five of those victories coming by shutout.
“We expected a physical game,” Merritt said. “I thought we did a good job of negating the balls in the air.
“Being able to get the ball wide and use our pace really devastated them. We’ve been saying all week our best thing is getting the ball outside. Then once they shift, attacking those weak spots.”
Danesi rounded out scoring in the 70th minute.
“Then going for a goal late left them exposed, and we were able to take advantage.
“The regular season is all to get ready for this. It’s great to hit your stride. We’re feeling comfortable. We just want to make sure we stay healthy.”
*Article has been updated.
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