ONEONTA – Marathon’s experience in championship-level games showed at key moments in Saturday afternoon’s Class C boys’ soccer championship game at Oneonta’s Hall of Fame fields.
The Olympians were able to capitalize on their scoring opportunities, and won their fourth sectional title in five seasons beating Greene, 3-0.
It was the 14th shutout win for Marathon, and it came in a matchup where the Olympians’ coach, Chip Stewart, was able to best one of his former players, Greene coach, Rick Tallman.
“The toughest part for me is that (Rick) works with our youth programs and some of our kids,” Stewart said. “He knows our kids so well, and was prepared for what we like to do.”
Tallman, a Marathon graduate, was well aware that the Olympians are excellent when the balls are in the air, yet, all three Marathon goals were directly or indirectly a result of headers.
“I was disappointed in the way we didn’t mark up in those situations, especially back-to-back,” Tallman said.
Greene found itself in attack mode the opening 15 minutes of the game, and narrowly missed two golden scoring opportunities.
Marathon was eventually able to counter, and drew a free kick from just outside the left portion of the 18-yard box. Jared Davenport hit a shot to the right corner that was headed in by midfielder Tyler Marsh at 25:19.
Just 38 seconds later, another header deflected the ball to Brendan Morrison, who passed quickly to Tyler Nelson to give Marathon a two-goal advantage.
“I really believe you have to be strong in the air, and we predominantly do dominate in the air,” Stewart said. “We’re really good at it. We finished two with headers and the third was a deflection after a header. Give Greene credit, they really took it to us the first 15 to 20 minutes. They had us on our heels and we bent, but didn’t break.”
From the moment Marathon found the Greene net the first time, the momentum of the game seemed to shift in the Olympians’ favor. John Robinson scored just 3:48 into the second half, again on header following a Davenport cross on a free kick.
Trojans goalie Curtis Richards made two big-time saves in the final 20 minutes to keep Marathon from padding an already three-goal advantage.
The Trojans had close-range shots from Eli Marks and Alex Driscoll in the waning moments that were stopped by Marathon goalie Evan Holl to preserve the shutout.
“We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities when we were pounding them the first 15 minutes,” Tallman said. “The kids knew those shots should have gone in, and a lot of that (missing the shots) was due to the respect that Evan Holl deserves. The kids know him as an outstanding keeper, and probably were trying to make their shots too perfect, and not making them simple enough to just finish.”
The sectional finals appearance was the third for Greene (16-2-1), who last appeared in a sectional championship game in 1999, and picked up their lone sectional title in 1991.
“It’s a good sign to take this step, and I’m proud of this team,” Tallman said. “This is a group of outstanding kids with great character, and I can’t say any more than that.”
Summary
(2-0 Marathon at the half)
Goals-assists: (M) Tyler Marsh, 1-0, Tyler Nelson, 1-0; John Robinson, 1-0, Jared Davenport, 0-2; Brendan Morrison, 0-1.
Shots-corners: (M) 6-1, (G) 4-2.
Saves: (M) Evan Holl, 4; (G) Curtis Richards, 3.