Friday Soccer: B-R bursts out of 2nd half gate with energy, as Greeson, Polk net goals to help Wolverines shut out GV

Bolivar-Richburg senior Dom Baldwin (7) and Genesee Valley sophomore Zach Bourne (5) collide for the loose ball near midfield during Friday night’s game in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg junior Landon Danaher (2) dribbles the ball downfield through the Genesee Valley defense during Friday night’s road contest in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Genesee Valley senior Will Scholes, front, shields the ball in front of the defense of Bolivar-Richburg sophomore Jaeger Terybury, back, during Friday night’s contest in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg senior Cody Platt prepares to throw the ball back into play during Friday night’s home contest against Bolivar-Richburg, in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Genesee Valley junior Austin Murphy (23) races after the loose ball, as Bolivar-Richburg senior Dom Baldwin (7) looks on during Friday night’s home contest in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg junior Hunter Stuck sends the ball down field on an indirect kick during Friday night’s road contest against Genesee Valley, in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

BELMONT — Much of the area Friday night saw perhaps their first sign of winter coming on the horizon. Snowfall was very light, but it still made an appearance to begin the day at Judy Bliven Field in Belmont.

The last time both Bolivar-Richburg and Genesee Valley met, the Jaguars were able to take a swipe at a 1-0 victory over the road at Dunsmore-Latimer Field with a goal coming in the last two minutes of play.

This time around, the Wolverines returned the favor themselves.

In the early-going in the second half, Bolivar-Richburg started up the engine on offense, as they scored two big goals to break what was once a scoreless tie between the two clubs to jump ahead toward a 2-0 blanking of the Jaguars.

Over the course of the first half, both teams battled their way through a midfield battle with no big chances being found in the first 10 minutes of action. The activity picked up for the Jaguars (2-5-1) when they got their first chance from Will Scholes on a break to the net.

Scholes dug the ball loose just past midfield. With the ball in between himself and Bolivar-Richburg keeper Wayne Karnuth, the Wolverines netminder was able to sprint quick enough to slide out and cover the ball to prevent the damage.

In the second half, a flip of the script was performed as the Wolverines (4-4-2) ignited the spark on offense with a pair of goals coming in nearly a four-minute span, with Jason Greeson scoring seven minutes in on an unassisted tally to break the ice.

At the 29:42 mark, Rudy Polk made sure the visitors kept their lead until the end of the game, as he received a Mark Pangburn pass from center and buried the goal to branch their lead out to a pair to ultimately take the victory.

Bolivar-Richburg outshot Genesee Valley by a 7-4 count, with Wayne Karnuth recording the shutout with all four stops for the Wolverines. On the other end, Keegan McKnight made five saves for the Jaguars.

The Wolverines are on the field back home Monday night, as they host a 6 p.m. matchup with the Friendship Golden Eagles, while the Jaguars look to bounce back over the road themselves with a stop at Houghton Academy on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Belfast 4, Houghton Academy 0

BELFAST — Although the Bulldogs offense collaborated to provide a whopping 19 shots on the Houghton Academy goal, they had to wait until the second half to find the back of the net.

After a scoreless tie with the Panthers was forced when halftime came, Belfast broke it wide open, as they scored all four of their goals from four different Bulldogs in the last 40 minute portion of Friday night’s game at the Rich Sullivan Complex to bolt their way toward a 4-0 shutout victory to win the Allegany County Division II championship once more.

“It wasn’t the lack of effort, but we missed way too many opportunities in the first half,” Bulldogs coach Mark Sullivan said. “These conditions everyone’s playing in, we were off that half step, and we tried to slow it down to get that foot on the ball. Overall, I was pleased, we wrapped up the League again tonight. It’s always one of our goals coming into the season, and we played some great competition to get this title again.”

Matt Cater got the goal scoring started in the second half for Belfast (7-2), as he took a Stiven Lopez pass from center and drilled it home to the back of the netting to get the hosts in red off and running with a 1-0 lead.

The lead was built upon, as Matt Weaver added his team-leading 10th of the season off a pass from Nick Ellison. Later on, Lopez added a goal to go with his assist, while Weaver had the helper to finish his night to branch the lead to three.

Justin Hill had Belfast’s final goal of the night, connecting with Connor Hull and his pass to find the back of the Panthers net to secure the victory for good. The Bulldogs defense provided a dominant showing on the field all throughout the contest, holding Houghton Academy (3-4) to a single shot on their net.

Stephen Struckmann made that save for the Bulldogs to preserve the shutout with his mitts. On the other side, Chris Habecker made 15 saves for Houghton Academy.

Both teams are back in action Tuesday night, as Belfast hits the road to take on Andover/Whitesville in a 6 p.m. contest, while Houghton Academy heads back home to welcome in Genesee Valley for a 5 p.m. contest of their own.

Fillmore 6, Cuba-Rushford 0

FILLMORE — The relentless Fillmore Eagles offense continued their scoring ways to keep their perfect condensed season alive, as they captured the Allegany County Division I championship with a 6-0 victory over Cuba-Rushford at home on Friday.

Mitch Ward and Isaiah Voss led the way with a two-goal night each, both scoring a goal to give Fillmore (10-0) a 2-0 lead at the break, with Ward breaking the ice after 2:36 was removed off the first half clock. Voss followed with his on a pass from Eben Schilke to extend the lead.

Four more goals were scored with Voss and Ward having a hand in all of them, with Voss scoring his second goal on a feed from Mason Cool just 35 seconds into the new half to go up 3-0 on the Rebels. The lead would remain shortly after the midway break.

43 seconds after the mask break, Zach Herring found his way onto the board himself, as Voss dished out his lone help to complete a five-point night on offense.

Ward three minutes later scored his final goal from a Zach Sisson helper before breaking loose from the Cuba-Rushford (2-4-1) defense some time later, traveling in on goal by his lonesome, but he instead dished the pass off to a streaking Layton Sanasith for his first career Varsity goal with under 10 minutes remaining to finish the scoring.

“I think that the play Mitch had at the end with the last goal, was exactly the summary of what we want to do with the players,” said Eagles assistant coach Jordan Mullen. “You want to put the others first, and he personified that tonight. As a team, Mitch has really taken a leadership role, taking care of those around him. We live in a world that kids are looking to get theirs, and it’s tough to build a culture around that. But what we have now, is exactly what we want.”

In all, Fillmore outshot the Rebels by a 10-6 count, with Dylan Valentine recording all six saves to pick up the shutout. Jarrett Campbell on the opposite side of the field, made three saves.

Both teams are back in action Monday night, as the Eagles will look to remain perfect over the road against Hinsdale in a 5 p.m. matchup, while Cuba-Rushford will look to get back on track over the road once more in Scio for a 7 p.m. contest.

“Honestly, we hit a slump when we had five in a row on the road, and we didn’t think we were playing our best soccer,” Mullen said. “We got back to where we want to be, but we’re not going to finish up just yet. We still have a juggernaut to play, if we can get that far given everything going on.”