Section V announces Boys Soccer Coaches of the Year; Mullen, Sullivan lead the way for Allegany County

SECTION V, CLASS D1 CO-COACH OF THE YEAR - Jamie Mullen (Fillmore)

Like his colleague Jon Beardsley with the girls team, longtime Fillmore boys head coach Jamie Mullen picked up right where they left off last season after making their first deep run into the State Final Four after their first Section V, Class D1 title, both since 2007. The regular season for the Eagles ended in perfection, which helped them pick up another Allegany County Division I title, their third outright in the last four years.

This year, Mullen’s Eagles finished the regular season upon entering Sectionals with a 12-0 record, ultimately finishing at 14-1 after a Class D1 Finals defeat to eventual champion - powerhouse Keshequa by a 2-0 count. Filled with depth across the board, the Eagles saw their team contribute in every way possible, including perhaps their rising star on the field - sophomore Mitch Ward, who dominated the top of the County leaderboard with an area-leading 27 goals to go with nine assists, topping out with 63 total points.

Ward was one of four Eagles that had goal totals that placed them inside the Top 10 overall, with Isaiah Voss (12 goals), Mason Cool (7 goals), and Carter Sisson (6 goals) also helping lead the pack. Fillmore also saw Ward (9), Cool (7), Eben Schilke (6), Zach Sisson (5), and Zach Herring (3) place in the Top 10 in the County in the assists department.

Dylan Valentine led the defense in between the pipes in his final season in uniform, scoring 10 of team’s 12 victories by shutout.

Mullen shares the Section’s top coaching honor with his Class D1 Finals counterpart - Ron Macomber Jr. of Keshequa.

SECTION V, CLASS D2 COACH OF THE YEAR - Mark Sullivan (Belfast)

On the other side of Class D, in the bottom Class D2 bracket, a youthful Belfast Bulldogs squad was able to navigate their way back to the Class D2 Finals for the fourth straight year under longtime head coach Mark Sullivan, as the team finished 9-4 to lock up the number one seed in Sectional play to go with their fifth outright County D-II title in six years, and fourth in a row.

Sullivan led this year’s Bulldogs through what was an up-and-down start to their condensed 2020 season at the beginning of October, but the team grew stronger as the season went on, compiling wins in six of their last seven to put a bow on the top seed in Class D2 Sectional play. On offense, it was Matt Weaver that stepped up to lead the goal scoring, tying for second-most in the County with 12 goals in his junior season to go with four assists.

In goal, Stephen Struckmann recorded five shutouts in between the pipes to lead the defensive front, third best in the County.

Although their fiery efforts toward the tail end of the season could not grant them a back-to-back Class D2 title this season, the team’s biggest moment of the year came perhaps in their first Sectional home game in the Semifinal round, where they had to overcome a hot start against Northstar right from the start. Trailing 2-0, and 3-1 in two separate instances, the Bulldogs were able to cause a fire that the Knights couldn’t put out, scoring four unanswered to take a 5-3 lead all the way until the end to make their way back to the Finals.

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With the release of the Coaches of the Year awards for each class, Section V also announced their All-Tournament team selections for this past season on the field.

In Class C2, Wyatt Karnuth and Landon Danaher received nods for the Bolivar-Richburg Wolverines, who had their best season in recent memory on the field with a 7-5-2 record and a Class C2 Semifinals berth, which included a three-game season series sweep over Cuba-Rushford to open Sectional Play. As for the Rebels, they received a nod for senior Caden Granger, who lead the team in goal scoring with nine goals, marking fourth best in the County.

In Class D1, Fillmore received nods from Ward, Cool and Brent Zubikowski for the All-Tourney team, while in Class D2, Belfast was honored with nods from Weaver, Struckmann and Justin Hill.