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Out of gas

Wolverines fall short in Class C semis against Eagles

ELLICOTTVILLE -- The Ellicottville/Franklinville boys soccer team did not take long to get going in the Section VI Class C semifinals. In the opening minute the Eagles burst into the Westfield/Brocton end of the pitch and Jackson Tomsick connected with Holden Basher for the first goal of the game.

That would be all the Eagles needed in the match, but Basher added another two goals in the second half to complete the hat trick and punched Ellicottville/Franklinville's ticket to the sectional final on Friday night.

"Sectional finals has been a goal since the beginning of the season," Ellicottville/Franklinville senior captain Tosh Klein stated. "We set the goal at the beginning of the season of what we wanted to accomplish. Today was not the best reflection of how we play, but we still put up three goals. We want to score as many as we can and keep another shutout. That's good for us."

The showdown between No. 2 Ellicottville/Franklinville and No. 3 Westfield/Brocton featured the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division II and III champions, respectively, battling for a spot in the final, and it was Division II in the driver's seat the whole contest.

Scoring early was not a fluke and the Eagles dominated possession largely due to the midfield, led by Klein.

"We've changed formations a couple of times, switched people," Klein said about the success in the midfield. "We've come to learn that if we funnel to the outside, then bring it back to the inside and win that midfield that the ball can stay in the opposing half and we can put more shots on goal."

Ellicottville/Franklinville generated plenty of great opportunities in that first half, but after giving up one early, the Wolverines, backstopped by senior Nolan Anderson, did not surrender another goal.

"Making it this far in the playoffs with 15 is awesome," Westfield/Brocton head coach Jay Pikiewicz stated. "We do have some younger players. We're going to lose a lot of very talented seniors. Nolan (Anderson) is gone, Noah (Tuah), Logan (Baum), Parker (Gambino) and that's tough to see. Those guys played exceptionally over the past few years, so it will be tough to lose them. I hope they continue to support the program and, hopefully, play in the future, but it's just a tough loss for us because we had such a good record throughout the season, and we wish the best of luck to Ellicottville/Franklinville as they continue."

The Eagles did get past Anderson once more in the first half, but could not beat the entirety of the defense. In the 26th minute, Basher sent a rocket toward goal that Anderson batted down, but Klein swooped into the box to flick it over the sprawling keeper and the shot was headed toward the net until junior defender Mike Cettell cleared the danger.

Cettell prevented a goal, and then six minutes later his dribbling from the back into the midfield nearly led to a Westfield/Brocton goal. After dribbling to midfield, he sprung his forward into the attack with a long ball, but once Braylon Swanson had the ball on his foot in the box the Eagles took away his space and the Wolverines were unable to get a clean opportunity.

With another huge diving save by Anderson in the 39th minute, somehow the score stayed the same despite the opening goal occurring in just the first minute.

However, that same score did not last long into the second half as the Eagles started fast again finding the back of the net just two minutes in. With Klein winning another ball at midfield he sprung another winger down the left side and Jacob Henning raced toward goal before sending a cross to Basher in the middle who bashed home his second of the game and seized the 2-0 lead.

"We made a lot of changes throughout the game trying to get something up front," Pikiewicz stated. "We did sacrifice the defense, the last goal of course. They struck both goals within the first minute of both halves. That was the killer. They just struck faster than we were ready. That's why we gave up those two goals."

Westfield/Brocton was now in desperate need of some offensive action and, playing with the wind, the Wolverines found more success. Taking more liberties defensively to bolster the counter attack, Westfield/Brocton almost had its break about 15 minutes into the half when Caleb Freifeld found himself alone in the box.

"You wouldn't believe how much the wind helps when you have low numbers," Pikiewicz said. "The wind was our battle in the first half. Having the wind in the second half, we had double the opportunities we had the first half. We ended up beating the defense on a few of them. We had a lot more shots, but we couldn't find the net."

Freifeld just missed the mark on the short side, but there was some life in the Wolverines' attack. Less than 10 minutes later, after Anderson punched away a Klein header, Westfield/Brocton was off to the races with Swanson nearly netting a goal. Instead, Ellicottville/Franklinville flipped the field back the other way and the Eagles' duo put the final stamp on the game.

Taking the ball just inside the box on the left side, Basher put on an impressive display of dribbles while being stood up by Noah Tuah, but he did manage to find an opening for a sly kick toward goal and while Anderson read the play Klein was too fast snatching the ball away while Basher raced to the middle to finish the give-and-go for the third and final goal.

"We've played a lot together," Klein said about his chemistry with Basher. "It's over summer, spring, the offseason you get to play together and get those attributes where you just know where each other are. Having a player where you're not the only one they keep an eye on, just dish it out to someone else as good as you really takes the eye off you. It really scares opponents when there are two players that can put it in the back of the net pretty efficiently."

An impressive season by the Division III champion Wolverines came to an end in Ellicottville, but they will have a lot to build on next season after finishing the year in the semifinals with a 13-2-1 record.

"With a team starting the year at 13 (and) pulling some up from modified, I am exceptionally pleased with how far we made it with such a young, low-numbered team," Pikiewicz said. "These guys played with their hearts. They gave us everything they had the whole season, which is tough to do when you don't have much to draw on the bench. I'm very proud to have coached them this far and I'm glad we gave them a game."

The win put the Eagles (15-2-1) into Friday's sectional final and they will face defending-champion in Class C state finalist Wilson (16-1-1) at 7:30 p.m. at either Hamburg High School or Allegany-Limestone High School.

"Props to them," Klein said about Wilson. "They have a good winning streak, a good record, but it's just like any other team. We go in and we think we're going to win, that's how we come out."