ALBANY — The general idea is that when a sports rivalry takes place, respective records of the two teams mean little. However, that does not always bear true in reality.
On Thursday when the Athens/Alexander long standing rivalry hit the pitch, there was a demonstrated difference in how the records impacted the game. In summation, for the young Spartan squad the differences were too much experience, too much strength, too much size, too much speed, too much soccer savvy, and essentially, too much Sully Pelot.
As one of the longest running matchups in this part of the state, there have been a bucketful of close games and upsets. This game was just not one of those as the tone of the match was set early. After a few minutes of give and take as the two sides gauged each other, the Bulldogs began to dominate the action. From deep releases from the defense and solid runs through the flanks, Athens’ buildup began to wear on the home side.
A four minute span essentially ended any question about the outcome of the night. First, it was an unfortunate deflection of a strong shot by Braeden Talley that got the first marker on the scoreboard for the Bulldogs. Two minutes later, Pelot lined up a free kick from the right side at about twenty yards from the twine. His blast ripped to the inside post and the lead was quickly doubled to 2-0.
It took only another two minutes for Pelot to hit the strings again. Working through the defense to the center of the eighteen, he powered another shot that smacked the strings from fifteen and push the advantage to 3-0.
With the Spartan defenders under duress but holding on with grit, Athens continued to press. With those deep clears leading to over the top opportunities, it was a matter of time before another strike would hit. Emmanuel Mends gathered one of those leads and dribbled into an opening to launch a nice cross right in front of the goalmouth. It was not properly cleared and Jack Cablish-Kristofco just had to tap the ball to add another tally to the total.
A few minutes later, it was the soccer master class combination that took the lead to five. Pelot sent a free kick to the center of the box where Matty Pigman rose above everyone to head the ball into the back of the strings. For soccer purists, it was the perfect example of placement and power.
The first forty ended with the 5-0 score and the Challenge Cup just about secured for the visitors.
“We made some initial position adjustment to try to counter their size and skill, but the continual pressure put our young kids in stressful situations. That impacted their judgement at critical time,” Alexander coach Justin Roush said about the first half. “That can make kids react rather than remember situational training.”
The start of the second stanza was essentially a replay of the first. It was only a few minutes before the Bulldogs garnered another score and bring on the running clock rule. Senior Malek Alasmari collected an errant clearance and put the ball in the back of the net to up the lead to 6-0.
Three minutes later, Pelot earned his third notch of the night with a wicked shot from deep in the Spartan zone. It was sent from a tight angle on the right that powered into the far left webbing and upped the Bulldog advantage to 7-0.
With a very comfortable lead, Athens substituted sparingly and continued to mount attack after attack. The Spartans, however, were able to put together a few of their own. The cousins Roush combined on one of those with some family teamwork. Jake got into the Bulldog defense on the left and found Jasper on the right side with a well-placed cross. The younger Roush tucked a shot under keeper Luke Rodgers giving the home side their only marker of the night.
From the midpoint of the half, Mends created several good shooting opportunities that looked very promising. Substitute netminder Ethan Payton came up big, smothering each attempt. But the senior was not to be denied. Dribbling in and around the defense, he created an opening and a shot that zinged past the sophomore keeper for the Dogs’ eighth goal of the game.
With a touch over ten minutes remaining, Pelot got his fourth counter with a power shot from the middle of the eighteen. With a 9-1 lead in hand, the Bulldogs began to bring in the reserves and the scoring for the rivalry was completed.
Roush assessed the loss. “Losing stings, especially for a young team that is looking to find a team identity. We will identify why things are going the way they are, why we aren’t finding that next linked pass that gets us out of the stress. We’ll have a light practice tomorrow and work on passing sequences and third man passes.”
It’s a quick turnaround for the Spartans as they will entertain Peebles on Saturday for a double header. First touch is scheduled for noon.
SCORING:
Athens: 5 4 9
Alex: 0 1 1
Athens: Talley 1st 26:43 0-1
Athens: Pelot 1st 24:05 0-2
Athens: Pelot 1st 22:34 0-3
Athens: Cablish-Kristofco 1st 14.23 0-4
Athens: Pigman (Pelot) 1st 10:35 0-5
Athens: Alasmari 2nd 34:50 0-6
Athens: Pelot 2nd 31:00 0-7
Alex: Ja Roush (Jak Roush) 2nd 27:22 1-7
Athens: Mends 2nd 16:50 1-8
Athens: Pelot 2nd 11:50 1-9
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