The varsity football team completed the year with a 14-6 loss in the first round of sectional play at the hands of Cazenovia CSD. After a crossover game victory against Class C rival Bishop Ludden, the team’s successful campaign culminated with a 6-3 record. A number of the players will be considered for all-league recognition which is yet to be announced. From the squad of 28 players, three seniors including Chris Martin, Dan Landi, and Patrick Sammons represented Marcellus in the senior game. In addition, there were 26 JV players and 55 Modified players who also participated this autumn giving meaning that the future holds much promise for Marcellus Football.
The boys and girls cross country teams have again had very successful seasons respectively. The girl’s team completed the league and ended sectional competition in second place. From the sectional meet Rachel Garn, the overall sectional winner for class “B” schools qualified along with Molly McGuane. Both will go on to compete at the state meet with Mary Morocco (who qualified based on her performance) as an alternate.
For the boy’s cross country team, they repeated last years’ performance as a team by first claiming the league championship followed by winning a Section 3 Class “B” title. The performance of Ryan Manahan leads the way with a first place finish at Sectionals. The supportive efforts of John Bell, Joe Fallon, Alex Zamojski, David Lilly, Ben Powers, and Justin Garn helped the team to a first place finish for the Section. This team will go on to State competition at Vernon-Verona-Sherill. There were a total of 15 runners at the modified level to keep a program flush in talent for the future.
The girls’ varsity tennis team had a very good season finishing with an 11-2 record and claiming second place for the league. They hosted Homer in a team sectional match and lost a close decision 4-3. There were 3 girls that qualified and moved on into individual sectionals. Danielle Henle eventually lost in the second round of singles play and Renee’ Poulott and Emily Hennigan lost in the second round of the doubles tournament as well. There were a number of younger players on the team of 25 this year all are looking forward to returning and having an even better year!
The Boy’s varsity soccer team began the year in September with five consecutive losses and a lot of doubts as to whether or not they would qualify for sectional play. The team then reeled off a 9-2 second-half run including eight league wins to finish in second place behind Westhill in the Liberty League with an 8-4 record. With that momentum going into the post-season play, the team won three straight playoff games including victories over second-seed Illion CSD and third-seed South Jefferson CSD. The high octane offense and stingy defense (as described by the Little Falls Times and the Watertown Daily Times) landed the seventh-seeded Mustangs in the sectional final against the first-seeded Clinton Warriors (who had just beaten Westhill 3 – 0 in the other semi-final). Ironically, the undefeated and state-ranked Clinton Warriors were the same team the Mustangs lost to in Marcellus Central School’s Columbus Day Tournament Final 0 - 1 in a hard-fought contest. Not to disappoint, the “pesky” Marcellus squad (as described by the Post Standard) forced overtime in the sectional final before finally succumbing to Clinton 2-1. The Mustang’s lone goal was just the sixth allowed by Clinton this entire season. “It wasn’t as easy” (as described by the Utica Observer Dispatch) this time around since the Clinton Warriors' previous 18 games featured 13 shutouts. It was also the first time that
Clinton had been forced to play overtime during their entire season. The Mustangs, who finished 12 – 8 overall, were led by seniors Zack Dillon, Sean Dunn, Kyle Jankowski, Chad Johnson, Adam Kinsella, Dan Martin, Keenan Vaughn, and Matthew Tice (who served as the team captain). The future holds much promise as the modified level team had 27 players and the successful JV team fielded 19 players as both Mustang feeder programs focused on player development for the future.
With respect to a girl’s varsity soccer program that was coming off an impressive 2010 campaign in which they participated in the NYS Finals, the Mustangs a season of hard fought battles in the very tough Liberty League. The league winner was not decided until the very last days of play with Marcellus finishing in second place (12-2) just behind Westhill’s 13-1 record. The Mustangs, who finished 14-2 overall in the regular season, entered sectional play as a third-seed knowing each game would have a unique set of challenges. After defeating nemesis Cazenovia in quarterfinal play (who spoiled their league title quest) and long-time league rival Westhill 1-0 in the sectional semi-finals, the Mustangs made it to the sectional finals against first-seeded Lowville. Ultimately, after two 10-minute overtime periods followed by two five-minute sudden victory periods, the game ended the game in a tie making the Mustangs the co-champions for Class “B” in Section 3 with a 16-2-1 record. With only one team being allowed to advance as the Section 3 representative in the New York State Tournament, a shoot-out was held to decide the outcome. Marcellus narrowly lost on penalty kicks (3 – 4) to Lowville effectively ending their season. The team was led by seniors Kathryn Busa (co-captain), Erin Driscoll, Danielle Felty (co-captain), McChesney Matro, Rebecca Nolan, Taylor Rescignano, Faith Seeley (co-captain) and Alanna Todd. As they look forward to the influx of an undefeated JV team (16 – 0) of twenty student athletes supported by two strong modified teams totaling 56 players, it appears that Marcellus girls’ soccer program will continue to have a promising future.
Last, but not least, our Girl’s Mustang Volleyball Squad is participating in its first year as a fall season sport. It will not come as a surprise that the team picked up from where they finished last winter with yet another a successful season for 2011. In the competitive Liberty League, the Mustangs secured a league title followed by also winning the Sectional III Championship over Westhill CSD at CNS High School. The move to the fall season allows them the same opportunity to continue on in regional and state playoffs which they did on Tuesday, November 8th, defeating Wayne Central (near Rochester, NY) from Section 5. This particular win was number “300” for their sixteen-year veteran coach, Hy Bryant. The stellar 300 wins at Marcellus compares to a mere 29 losses for the former coach of Onondaga Community College! As of this printing, the team is now “shuffling off to Buffalo” to compete against the Section VI champion. A win in the Buffalo area quarterfinal will place the Marcellus squad in the state final four at Glens Falls during the weekend of November 19 & 20, 2011. The team is lead by 3 seniors, Nicole Fletcher, Cassie Roberts, Tabitha McBride, and is also supported by a strong group of underclassman. In conjunction with a talented JV squad, the girl’s Mustang volleyball program can reflect on a most successful season while looking ahead to a bright future.
All of these teams will have participants that will be selected for all-league and or all-section honors that are yet to be named. Each varsity team will also be entered into the opportunity to be recognized for their academic success as scholar/athlete teams from NY State. All this information will be forthcoming. Written by Brad Dates
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