NYS Section 5 vs 6 - Quarter Finals Preview

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NYSPHSAAAfter two out bracket games that did not involve Section Five, the 2012 NYS tournament will be fully underway on Saturday, June 2nd. There are four sites throughout the state running quarter final games, including the "Western Regionals" which feature Section Six hosting Section Five at Hamburg High School.

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association sets the order of the games and they rotate the starting times for each of the classes each year. This year the order will be C, A, B. The Class A game, featuring Fairport vs Orchard Park will start at 3:30. The Class B game between Irondequoit and Hamburg has a planned start at 6:00 and the Class C game featuring Penn Yan and Silver Creek is planned to start at 1:00 PM.

Class A
FAIRPORT vs ORCHARD PARK

Fairport-OP

Orchard Park won the Section 6 title with a 10-8 come-back win over Clarence after scoring three unanswered goals in the last quarter. Clarence won the 2011 Championship, breaking a long streak of consecutive OP titles going back to 1995. For Orchard Park, it was sweet revenge as they replayed last year's match up with Clarence, but this time came out on top and won their twentieth Section VI title.

The game was close throughout with neither team gaining more than a two goal advantage. After senior midfielder Dan Murphy tied the game with a little over five minutes left in the game, junior attackman Fairport vs PenfieldAustin Goltz scored the go-ahead goal at 4:45. OP took the ball from Clarence on a strong ride and Murphy found senior attackman Ben Johnson open on a cross-crease feed as the Quakers scored the last goal of the game at 2:17.

The Quakers are 13-4 entering the quarter final game. Two of their losses came from Section Five opponents. They lost to Pittsford (6-15) at the end of April and lost to Penfield (8-13) on May 17th. Their other two losses were to Clarence (11-13) on May 7th and a one goal loss to Niagara-Wheatfield (13-14) on May 12th.

Fairport enters the game as the only undefeated team (19-0) in Section Five. The Red Raiders are deep with eleven players in double figures this season. Senior goalie Blaze Riorden and senior midfielder Derek DeJoe were recently selected as USLacrosse All-Americans. DeJoe has 27g-15a and was an early recruit for Syracuse. He, however, is not the high scorer for Fairport. Senior offensiveman Pat VanBortle currently leads the Red Raiders in goals and points with 55g-18a. He scored seven goals in Tuesday's championship game against Penfield. Senior middie Brian Martin lead the team in assists with 25g-27a and senior attackman Kyle Sterzin is a force with 23g-20a.

Riorden has made 123 saves this season (69%) with a defense in front that has held opponents to 84 goals against (4.4 average per game). this season. He signed a NLI to play for Albany next year. Martin signed his NLI for Binghamton along with defenseman Chris Bechle.

Although Fairport certainly looks like the stronger team, Orchard Park has a strong history and is anxious to make up for a disappointing end for their 2011 season.

Class B
IRONDEQUOIT vs HAMBURG

Irondequoit-Hamburg

The last quarter final game to be played on Saturday is the Class B game between Irondequoit (17-2) and Hamburg (18-1). The Bulldogs had no difficultly with their championship game beating Niagara-Wheatfield 15-7. In fact, Hamburg has had little difficulty with most of their opponents this year, outscoring their opponents 16-4 on average.

Hamburg also had an opportunity to take revenge as they faced last year's match up with Niagara-Wheatfield and they came out on top with a 15-7 win. Last year N-W won the ticket to the NYS tournament with an exciting overtime win.

Senior midfielder Ryan Jurek scored five goals and junior Max Maxwell added 2g-4a for the Bulldogs who led 5-0 after the first quarter and 9-1 at the half. The Falcons did mount a small comeback, scoring five Iron_CAgoals, but Hamburg still led 11-5 after three quarters of play.

Irondequoit was surprised by the tenacity of Canandaigua in their championship game, which the Eagles won 11-9 and was not decided until late in the fourth quarter. It was standing room only for the game which pitted the top seeded Eagles against the sixth seeded Braves.

Senior midfielder Briele Caples scored six goals and finished with 12g-1a in the tournament. He was named Class B Tournament MVP. Two time USLacrosse All-American attackman Nick Doktor finished with 3g. Irondequoit boasts three All-Americans in the class of 2012. Joining Doktor are senior midfielder Gunnar Miller and senior goalie Eric Fischer who was named an Academic All-American. Six Irondequoit players signed National Letters of Intent this fall. Joining Doktor (Penn), Fischer (Binghamton) and Miller (West Point) were Andrew Cordes (Towson), Connor Enright (Mercyhurst) and Garrett Warren (VMI). They have been playing together for ten years.

Irondequoit has great depth and an excellent goalie in Fischer. Their offense can score from many directions. The Bulldogs will need to control Doktor who, a converted attackman, will feed anyone. But if Doktor is controlled there are others, including Caples, who are willing and ready to take the offensive lead. The Eagles, on the other hand, will need to value ball possession to limit the high scoring Bulldogs to a small number of high quality shots. This game will be won by the more determined team.

Class C
PENN YAN vs SILVER CREEK

Penn Yan-Silver_CreekPenn Yan has had a whole year to prepare for the rematch against Silver Creek who, last year, ended the Mustang's dream of a trip to the final four. In last year's game, the Black Knights brought thirteen players, but that's all they needed as Zed Williams scored 6g-2a and Frank Brown scored 7g. Silver Creek scored seven goals in the second quarter and went on to win 15-8.

This year the Black Knights are 16-1 having lost only to Orchard Park (14-22). Thirteen times this year Penn Yan vs Livoniathey have scored over twenty points and three times they have scored over thirty goals. Their offense has produced 401 goals this season (24 per game on average) while holding their opponents to 139 (8 per game).

Zed Williams is a junior this year and continues to rack up the goals. With a career total of 547 points, Williams is just seven points short of the state record held by Casey Powell (553). He is not the only threat as sophomore attackman Marvin Curry scored ten goals and senior attackman added 9g-2a when they defeated Akron 29-15 to win the Section VI title on Wednesday.

Penn Yan used consistent scoring in their 14-8 victory over Livonia in the Class C championship. The win gives the Mustangs a total of seventeen Section Five titles.

The Mustangs scored the first three goals and seven of the first eight in their victory. Livonia fought back to 8-4 in the third quarter but got no closer. The Mustangs scored the next five goals to lead 13-4 going into the final quarter. Leading in scoring for Penn Yan was attackman Bradley Voigt with 4g-2a who was named to the All Tournament team for the Mustangs. Attackmen Rion Davison (3g-1a), Sean Emerson (3g) and Ryan Maciejewski (2g-2a) also scored for Penn Yan. All combined, the attack accounted for 12 of the 14 goals. Midfielder Brandon Grace won 16/21 (76%) face offs for Penn Yan.

The Mustangs are 18-2 this year, having played an independent schedule. Their losses were to Baldwinsville (8-9) and Fairport (2-5), but their wins include teams like Penn Yan v LivoniaLakeland/Panas, Penfield and Canandaigua. They have scored 240 goals this year (12 average/game)while allowing 78 (3.9/game). Sophomore goalie Brandon Maciejewski has recorded 180 saves (70%).

Penn Yan moves the ball around in offense and has lots of players who can score. Sophomore attackman Bradley Voigt leads the team in goals and assists with 55g-42a. Sophomore attackman Rion Davison has 37g-26a, junior attackman Ryan Maciejewski has 32g-34a and senior All-American midfielder Dylan Yonts has 42g-26a.

Penn Yan will certainly have their hands full with the Black Knights and will have to control the ball time and limit shots if they plan to move on to the final four in Syracuse. Brandon "Mace" in the Mustang goal is capable of making spectacular saves, but the Penn Yan defense will need to protect their goalie from volume. Penn Yan should be able to produce enough goals for a win, but will need to slow the pace of the game.

 



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