Fillmore’s Fantastic Fall: Mullen, Beardsley, Fuller reflect on incredible, memorable start to 2021 sports season for Eagles
FILLMORE — It has been the story of the year, thus far.
Nobody saw this kind of season pan out across the Fall, especially in Allegany County. For the last two or so months, there was a lot of digging, a lot of clawing, a lot of emotion being expressed in all different forms in what Fillmore was not only able to do for the school, but for the entire community itself.
Not even the weather outside, or injury and illness, nor intellectual ambiguity could stop the Eagles from putting together a Fall campaign of particular stature that will stand out as perhaps the most prosperous of them all. If you weren’t keeping score at home, allow me to do the honors:
Three Section V championships, two Far West Regional titles, five State Qualifier appearances (two individually in girls tennis from Olivia Chiu and Clancy Cockle), two State Final Four berths, one of which resulted in a State Finalist ident for the boys soccer team in what was the final hurrah from within a magnificent career by one of Allegany County’s finest to ever grace the sidelines.
The hardware and accolades alone, you could build a small showcase for within the school’s historic halls.
On Monday, WellsvilleSports.com was able to catch up with the three coaches that helped assemble a season like no other at Fillmore Central School — boys soccer head coach Jamie Mullen, girls volleyball head coach Lacie Fuller, and girls soccer head coach Jon Beardsley, who also serves as the school’s Athletic Director.
The longtime girls soccer mastermind admits that for this season to turn out the way it did from the school’s perspective, it has left him completely astonished.
“I’ve said this a few times, but I don’t go into seasons thinking about what could happen at the end of the tunnel,” Beardsley said. “I’m really one that focuses on today, and tomorrow, and you can get caught up really quickly and down the line. Then, you miss out on some fun, neat things that aren’t always about the scoreboard. I’m completely flabbergasted about winning three Sectional titles, and we had a couple of girls go to State Qualifiers in girls tennis for coach (Bill) Nolan, we have a coach that has coached boys soccer for 31 years and is the County’s All-Time winningest coach, and we have a phenomenal volleyball coach in Lacie that added to our success story.”
Beardsley went on to add that it wasn’t just about this season’s triumphs that helped make the noise, but rather, the past accomplishments in years past that helped lay the brickwork down to set it all up.
“We have so many accomplishments and they are awesome, but I hope we remember a lot of the other stuff too,” he said. “Those accomplishments provided a foundation that really helped set up what we were able to do this year. Another thing about this season, is that we developed this passion where we really, really care about what people think. And it’s sometimes to the point where it makes us sick, but it’s also something that makes us really successful.”
“It took them a while to find their identity. They didn’t realize how much potential they really had in themselves.”
We begin our success story with the Fillmore Lady Eagles from inside, on the volleyball court. The words above uttered by girls volleyball coach Lacie Fuller, now in her seventh year inside The Rock, are still felt as words of disbelief that describe a performance like no other, as the team put together a reigning of supreme all through Sectionals and to the end, where they were met by eventual State Final Four resident Pavilion.
Seven years ago, Fuller took over for then-head coach April Coloney, who was the first to notice the burning passion and desire held by the now-Sectional championship-winning coach. When it came time to fill in the vacancy her predecessor left behind, it was an opportunity that she absolutely could not allow to slip by.
And it all began after a lengthy high school career in the sport she loved to play, down the road in Belfast. Her lifelong dream to coach had come true.
“I always thrived off of that, and to do something that I loved to play is just beyond rewarding in my eyes. So when the opportunity came after April saw the spark that she wanted to have take over the program, I had to take it,” Fuller said. “I looked up a lot to my cousin Jeff (Fuller), and he was telling me about volleyball in the beginning. I love teaching and learning, they go hand in hand with one another. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, and coaching is the next best thing. I’ve enjoyed being a role model and working with kids my whole life. The things I’ve learned through the athletes I have coached, it will be with me through all my years. Fillmore makes it a great place to coach with all the support from the administrators, staff and the community.”
It was a trip through the regular season that saw plenty of ups and downs for the Lady Eagles, but through it all, the rollercoaster ride was worth the experience, garnering prime position to capture one of the top seeds in the Sectional tournament when midseason approached. All that was needed in order to continue making that run was a sudden realization.
One that made the Lady Eagles begin to believe that they were more than capable of getting the job done. Despite dropping two hard-fought, regular season-ending matches to the hands of Wellsville and Bolivar-Richburg — two teams who had played some season-best volleyball of their own at the time, Fillmore was able to grasp that feeling of becoming Class D3’s top seed for Sectionals.
Even if the feeling wasn’t entirely evident.
“We had a little bit of a pep talk about being aware of where we stood,” Fuller said. “They didn’t realize we were the number one seed until midseason, and at the time, we hadn’t played very good volleyball per say, but when they looked at the standings and saw where they were. They developed the thought that they were good. That kind of sparked things for us, and then they really started to focus and thereafter, that’s when we stepped up. We had Wellsville and Bolivar at the end of the season, two very good teams playing their best volleyball, and even though we got swept in both games, it really helped us prepare for Sectionals.”
The Lady Eagles had finished short of clinching the County title, falling behind of both Wellsville and Bolivar-Richburg, but the team garnered what they wanted behind a record of 9-6, as the seed would help provide a bit of a measuring stick to gauge how far they could really punch it through the postseason.
The team controlled their destiny all the way to the end, and with it, came their best volleyball of the season.
Their journey toward long-awaited glory started with massive straight-set victories over Elba and Arkport/Canaseraga in the Quarter and Semifinal rounds, near dominant performances to put a stamp on a trip to LeRoy to contend for the Class D3 championship with a familiar team the program knows more than anyone in the class — Houghton Academy, their neighbors just a short five minute drive down the road.
Each team split a game already in regular season play, but the rubber match was the most important of them all. Allegany County was already guaranteed a Sectional champion. All it came down to was determining who.
It was present early on that the nerves were definitely felt on both sides. But after a highly competitive, two-point first set slithered away, the Lady Eagles provided a response like any other, winning the next three consecutive sets beginning with a two-point win of their own to tie, and following with wins of seven, and four.
The last two points of the game-ending fourth set came from the hand of Haylee Holmes from the service line, dealing two decisive serves while battling migraines, the last of which was put down by a kill at the front of the net to close out their first Section V winning performance since 1995.
It was a moment that still leaves Fuller at a loss for words.
“I still don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. It was something that we’ve worked so hard for, and I still have no idea how we were able to put this type of season together,” she said. “I didn’t think we were going to do anything of what we did, and when we got in there, they were focused and our passes and everything, everyone was on board for their best game of the season. It’s a rivalry with Houghton, and we know how strong they are. The girls are friends with a lot of them on the team, and both teams felt like it was a rivalry going in. There were a lot of nerves, and on both sides, but winning that was almost indescribable.”
Just how exactly did the Eagles get the job done? They simply continued to believe.
“I have a lot of girls that possess a lot of heart, and they were such an amazing group of girls to coach this year,” Fuller said. “Just from start to finish, they were thriving and they were more determined than ever to keep working hard towards being successful. Half of the season, we felt like we were slouching until they figured out after we gave them something to believe in, they believed in each other and they pushed each other, and they peaked at the right time. It took them a while to find their identity, and they didn’t realize how much potential they really had in themselves. It dawned on them, and then the light came on.”
It was one of the more collective efforts for a unit on the volleyball court that helped provide that Kodak Moment for the Lady Eagles and their 26-year wait for Section V glory. Just some of the names: Rising offensive attacker Jadyn Mucher providing a massive counterattack, and the team’s setter Zoe Hubbard, who handed out helpers one after another in front of the net to help the cause.
But the team’s efforts all circled back to their leader on the frontlines — senior Emma Cole, who provided an absolutely magnificent Sectional postseason on offense to ignite Fillmore’s run to the title. Across all five games, including the team’s pre-Qualifier against Alexander, and the official Class D State Qualifier game against Pavilion, Cole combined to record 89 total kills, 19 of them coming against Houghton Academy in their Finals match, and a Sectional-high 24 against the Lady Trojans.
Fuller says if there was anyone she could look toward to provide an overpowering, and overwhelming performance, it was her Senior attacker.
“There was one sequence against Alexander where she blocked a ball, then it went to their next hitter who had another attempt, she blocked it again and then with it still being in the air after the block, she brought it back down with a kill to the other side. It’s amazing what Emma can do,” she said of her Senior. “Everyone looks up to Emma, and everyone seems to watch what she does. They look up to her for everything, her skill, her ability, she was definitely the driving force come Sectional time. It was a very collective effort, but if you could have one girl dominate a match, it was her, our number one hitting and our best blocker.”
All roads would have to come to an end somewhere along the line, and for the Lady Eagles, it reached its conclusion at Caledonia-Mumford in the Class D State Qualifier, where they were met with an excessively forceful match in the Pavilion Lady Golden Gophers, who wound up representing the Far West in Glens Falls at the State Final Four this past week.
The success that the Lady Eagles had an opportunity to taste this Fall was one of many footnotes created by Fillmore in sublime fashion. It’s something the school has never experienced before, but to be a part of a highly-triumphant and championship-winning mantra the school supplied to begin the 2021-22 sports season, it’s something that Fuller believes is beyond special.
“It’s a really special feeling. We are all enjoying everything, but to be a part of this success along with the perennially successful soccer teams that we have, is beyond special and it’s wild,” she said. “Almost all of our kids here play a Fall sport, so we had a ton of kids experience an amazing season along with their parents, and the community itself. To see success come at every turn, and to go support their friends at all of their games, be it boys soccer, girls soccer, vice versa, it was really neat. You play three separate sports, but in the end we are all together as one big family.”
Even though the program will lose six Seniors from their core, including Cole and Mucher, the future remains bright for the Lady Eagles heading into next year, as they look to fill in some massive pairs of shoes on the hardwood from within The Rock, and build upon the program’s best season to date under Fuller, and in recent memory.
The hope when the calendar flips to next Fall, is that the success the Lady Eagles had a chance to encounter this season will carry over as big boosts of motivation and momentum, as well as a renewal of interest for kids to go out and have a chance at tasting championship glory of their own.
A feeling like no other.
“We’re excited to get rocking and rolling already for next year,” Fuller said. “We’re only losing a few kids, but it will be something that we’ll have to adjust to while filling in some huge shoes, but what it does is giving motivation for the underclassmen to come out next year and do this again after realizing what they were capable of. It renews their interest in the game, and hopefully more kids will come out and play themselves. We had a ton of people come to our matches this year for the first time, and they had great experiences. That’s program building in itself.”
“Something I’ve always pushed for is, for them to not beat the opponent, but to beat and master the game.”
To master a game like soccer, whether it be in the sense of high school, on the collegiate level or even professionally, it can take years. It also takes a tremendous amount of work, energy and poise to become the best player that you possibly can be.
For the Lady Eagles of Fillmore, that sense of love and pride for the game that they continuously grew up with was instilled when they were still in elementary school. Because of it, they helped establish a soccer program that across time, has become one of the best in Section V to this very day.
That was one thing, but to step up to the plate and take it, in this case, two steps further, that was another. For head coach Jon Beardsley, the season that now stands as the best in his 27-year career was all pinpointed to the team’s eye-opening start at the beginning of their schedule with decisive victories over both Section VI powers Holland and Portville.
Two games where he could tell almost immediately that the hard work was going to blossom into something incredible.
“There’s something that I’ve thought about over the course of the past couple of weeks, and it’s the idea that we focus so much on the process,” he said. “By doing that, we got the outcome that we’ve aimed for. Sometimes you get so focused on the end, that you miss a lot in between and this team didn’t do that. A lot of kids have been doing this since third, fourth grade and we’ve pushed them into things they like. They don’t do this simply for the end result, they do it because they enjoy getting better. This season alone, I could go back to Holland and Portville, two great teams from Section VI and we immediately found out that we were good, but it solidified the idea that we have a chance to be pretty special.”
Special would become a word of massive subtlety. A better word to describe what the Lady Eagles were able to do this year — Astronomical. Statistically, Fillmore provided some of their best offense and defense in recent memory, recording nearly 100 goals on offense — 98 to be exact, which is the highest the program has accumulated since 2000 when they scored 90, coupling that with only nine allowed all season back the other way on defense.
A pair of top tier efforts the program has witnessed in its history.
The tremendous patience on both halves of the field allowed Fillmore to provide a historic season like never before, and it all stemmed from the desire to become better in competition not only from within the season itself, but at practices. At times when there were no more basic drills to run, Beardsley says his girls would find different ways to maintain their level of competitive prowess, regardless. An example: Playing a simple game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with one another.
Although there wasn’t much adversity for the team to work their way past across the season, their high level of productivity was taken to the next level, one that Beardsley was amazed to see develop over the course of time this season, allowing them to make the run they had. The longtime Lady Eagles coach credits a brief discussion with his team after their October 1 home battle with Olean for the source of electricity.
“For me personally, it was after our game against Olean, I sat down with the girls and talked to them,” he remembered. “Sometimes success is like asking yourself when do you realize you can take it to a different level while being challenged enough to also realize that you can keep pushing forward? They’re motivated simply within themselves, and they don’t need the other team do that for them. That made them better every single time they came to practice, and it started with our Senior leaders and the other kids behind them that put in just as much time as they did. They’re always looking to get better. They weren’t the greatest practice team unless I made it the cut-throat competition practice, and it’s something I had to do.”
During the discussion, Beardsley continued to approach his team with an offer on the table that they were more than capable of accepting when the season continued to wind down — a chance of going to the State Tournament, which is a mark the program has not reached since 1984.
“I told them that they had the ability to go to States. The girls never like to make eye contact, but they looked up at me when I said that. You could see a belief in that, and you need to have a lot of things to work together to make that trip happen, no matter how good you are,” he said. “But you could see a realization like “Let’s go.”. We had done everything that we wanted in the regular season as far as success, so the practices, we made more competitive. What I really appreciate about this group, is that it’s never about the opponent. They never wanted to make the opponent feel a certain way. This really was for themselves. They wanted to win for themselves. Something I’ve always pushed for is for them to not beat the opponent, but beat and master the game. That was most of the team’s desire.”
After their 2-0 blank of Olean, the Lady Eagles would roll into Sectionals with all of the firepower loaded into their arsenals, recording five more shutouts along the way, including a 1-0 win over perhaps their toughest game of the season at that point against Class C power Gananda on the road in mid-October. The Lady Eagles went in as the top seeds for the second time in three years behind another undefeated regular season, a streak which now sits at 55 straight dating back to 2018.
One by one and comfortably with ease, the opposition that approached Fillmore tumbled. The Lady Eagles masterfully orchestrated a brilliant Sectionals run that saw them outscore the opponent, 15-0, including a 7-0 win over South Seneca to begin in the Quarterfinals, then a 4-0 win over Honeoye in the Semifinals, and then the most colossal of them all — an emphatic 4-0 shutout of one of Section V’s powerhouses in Marion to win their second Class D1 title in three seasons.
A juncture when all Beardsley could do was smile from beginning to end.
“The next level was our second round of Sectionals against Honeoye. I think we played good soccer, and our talent and ability, and hard work allowed us to be successful in the regular season for this particular moment. That game against Marion made us go, “whoa.”. These girls surprised us coaches about how good they actually were. We did go to a different level, and it made it easier on my ticker. They were keen to that demeanor, and nothing emotionally bothered them. They were methodical in what they did, and they went along with their approach. It was a result of countless hours of work, teamwork, learning their roles and accepting it along with supporting each other.”
Beardsley added that “We’ve heard about Marion from the Chloe DeLyser days, and I know Lori (DeLyser) very well. It was one of those games where we came out and made a really good team have a really bad day. It’s a culmination of how well we came out defensively, and they became the unsung heroes because of it. We shut down a great goal-scorer (Abigail Marotta), and then proceeded after that with Notre Dame-Batavia and their special player (Autumn Mathisen). That Final game where five, 10, 15 minutes into the game, you could say that we were smiling pretty early on, but (Jeff) Fuller said I wasn’t smiling until about 10 minutes left. It’s an extension of what we’ve done before, and you could tell that they weren’t going to be denied.”
If you thought the telltale story was over with after claiming another Section V title, you were wrong. A new chapter was written for Fillmore, consisting of shutouts of their next two opponents on the slate — a 5-0 blank against back-to-back Class D2 champion Notre Dame-Batavia in the State Qualifier, and days later, a 2-0 spot against Section VI, Class D champion Ellicottville to seize their first Far West Regional title and a spot in the State Final Four in 37 years.
In that point in time was also a time where the wheels for girls athletics at Fillmore were beginning to churn. At the State level, it had only recognized four classes for their tournament. In a unique situation, the Lady Eagles under then-head coach Karl Krause, had to face a Class C team from within Section V in order to make way toward the big dance, because Section VI had no representatives in either Class C or Class D.
The Lady Eagles ultimately fell in the Semifinal round to then-eventual State Champion Cherry Valley in Brockport. The last time the program had their last visit to the State’s biggest stage.
Until this season.
Knowing that certain circumstances in today’s world could put their season on hold, temporarily or even permanently, the Lady Eagles gave everything they had left to give in the tank in Cortland. Having to spend the majority of the night coming from behind against eventual State Champion, Mount Academy, Fillmore never went down without giving a fight, providing a glimmer of hope right near the end with a massive goal from Sophia Templeton to cut their deficit from two to one in the waning minutes.
With nearly three minutes left, the biggest moment of the game occurred. With a direct kick from 20 yards away to take, Zoe Beardsley nearly provided some shades of her goal against Ellicottville in the Far West Regional, when she ended a game-long shutout to open the scoring late in the second half that game. In this one, a chance to erase everything and renew the game once more. The shot provided almost the same height, and the same distance on goal, but a quick reaction by the Mount Academy netminder allowed for a save barely to be made — one that officially halted Fillmore’s late press.
When it was all said and done, Beardsley used words such as “satisfying”, “joyful”, and “growth” to describe his team and their heroic, titanic efforts all year long.
“It’s been satisfying, and I’ve used joy a lot during the year, because I think everyone is dealt with certain hands. We all know that we have it better sometimes than how we act, and I think this season really allowed us to find the good in what we were doing instead of the bad, and appreciating the joyful moments. Everything we’ve had to deal with, COVID, personal matters between us coaches and the team that go on in our lives, but going out and being together to provide that joy, that appreciation for what we have, it’s not guaranteed. Growth is another strong word, and I’m a teacher first, coach second. If we’re not growing as individuals, as soccer players, as people, I don’t feel like I’m doing my job. They expect to be better and to grow.”
A prime example the longtime Lady Eagles coach states, has been the rise of Senior, Sophia Templeton, who has undoubtedly become not only one of Allegany County’s best, but in Section V. And even though there were detours directed at points toward finding the success the team wanted, it was an operation that really changed the way the team conducted business, as well as throwing the opposition off-kilter.
Templeton had provided some of the most methodical and exalting soccer of the season.
“If you know Sophia, she’s a talented player. She was the MVP last year, and that was the turning point for us going to the next step as a team. It mattered to her to score, and I’ve never been one that derails a kid that’s a goal-scorer, because it’s really hard to find them. But what I found was that she had some moments that were difficult for her, but I could see the amount of attention she was drawing, and she recognized that. It was a lot of work, mental work to realize to change her approach and not only making it about going to the goal, but to lure the defense, drawing them wider while attacking down the endline. It really changed the way our team operated. She worked a ton of magic doing all of that for us this year, and it was a huge difference especially during Sectionals. She didn’t score much, but it was her best soccer all year.”
Templeton is one of six Seniors that will officially depart Fillmore when June arrives, as she joins fellow classmates Torann Wolfer, Emily Krzeminski, Lizzy Nugent, Kaleigh Kinnicutt, and perhaps one of the more pivotal pieces to the puzzle — Zoe Beardsley, who is also the daughter of Beardsley.
For five seasons, the Beardsleys spent the majority of their time together on the sidelines. It’s been a sacred, everlasting journey that the coach will always remember and cherish, no matter how easy it was being her guide. To see the amount of maturity and class shine through, Beardsley said it has made himself better.
“Now I can say that it has been tremendously gratifying. It’s a difficult thing to coach, and I don’t think anyone has ever said before about coaching their kid, that it’s easy. For me, coaching Zoe was really easy,” he said. “But being a coach and a father at the same time has its own things that can come up. I was really impressed with how mature, and how classy she handled her time with our program. She’s a kid that’s always found a way to do her part. From the time she was four years old, she’s always wanted to be a part of something. She didn’t need a pat on the back, she didn’t need her Dad to give her anything, she went out and was a part of the team. That was the same exact mindset she had going into this season. She was a way better listener than a talker, and just the fact that she was being my sidekick along the way, it has made me better.”
What exactly does the future hold for a team that will come off a 21-1 record, their seventh straight Allegany County Division I title, a second Class D1 championship in three seasons, and their first Far West Regional title and State Final Four berth since 1984 — arguably their best season ever? Names like Hope Russell, Grace Russell, Preslee Miller, and Malory DeRock will all be back for another round of soccer again in the year 2022.
Some of the ladies on the team have already begun their offseason preparations for when that moment does indeed arrive next Fall, when they look to perhaps attempt a similar duplication of what happened this past season. Losing impactful names like Templeton and Beardsley has happened before in the past when the program first lost prominent names like Tess Schilke and Elsa Cole when they first began their rise to power.
Since then, the program has continued to get better and better as time went on. Beardsley hopes it will be the same-case scenario when the calendar flips over to next year.
“I can tell you right now, there’s a few of them that have already started playing soccer again when we got back on Monday. They’re playing twice a week, and it’s just a part of who they are and why we have so much success here at Fillmore,” he said. “Doing what they do, it’s not something they all of a sudden decide to do, it’s a part of Fillmore Girls Soccer. They’re not going gung-ho all the time, but that’s why they want to be a part of it when they’re in third grade. If we only talked about it in September and October, it wouldn’t have that special meaning that it has now. You lose Seniors, and those Seniors were impactful and tenured. We’ve done that before when we lost Tess and Elsa after we first went undefeated. We were clueless as to what would happen next. Ever since, we’ve come back and equaled or done better than what we’ve done before.”
“It’s a coach’s dream to have a team that wouldn’t necessarily become friends or pals, but to act like brothers and warriors together.”
The final chapter to this incredible saga belongs to a team that gave their coach a trip of a lifetime, that will last for a lifetime. Earlier in the year, it was announced that the boys soccer program’s architect for many, many years, Jamie Mullen was officially going to bid farewell after over three decades.
To say the accolades that Mullen has accumulated over the years are simply astonishing, would be a massive understatement.
This year before the season even started, the legacy of perhaps the most successful Fillmore head coach in the school’s rich history was cemented forever in Allegany County’s Halls as a Class of 2020 Inductee. He became the County’s All-Time winningest coach later on by surpassing the legendary Rich Sullivan, guiding the Eagles toward a 24th League title in his 31 years, their sixth Class D1 and Far West Regional titles, two State Finals appearances, and a 465-98-43 career record overall.
A winning percentage of 82.6% in his career — a mark that sits fourth best in Section V history. If there was any doubt regarding Mullen’s status of being one of the best to ever do it, none remains, all stemming from when he was a ball boy for former head coach Bill Rochester back in the mid-70s.
“Houghton College was a soccer hot spot when I was in third grade, and Fillmore was a soccer town. Those really were the glory days when I was a kid. Houghton in 1976 went to the Rose Bowl and played, and I was an eight-year old kid at the time, climbing the press box just to see every game on Saturday,” he recalled. “When I was a ball boy here for coach Rochester, I traveled to watch Fillmore play in the Finals against Red Creek, seeing guys like Steve Burke and Ronny Barnett, both have played pro soccer. It was my dream to be a part of anything, so I wanted to play. I played, I went to Houghton College and played, and there was never a time where I didn’t want to be part of something.”
At one point, Mullen was virtually involved with almost everything throughout his high school career as a teacher and a coach. Coaching boys basketball, coaching boys soccer, tennis, helping with school musicals and stints with the school’s National Honor Society program. But it was also a point in time where he realized, that it may have been too much of an undertaking.
From six activities down to just one, having stepped down from boys basketball coaching back in 2014, and announcing his retirement from the school just a couple of years ago. It was a decision that seemed difficult at first, but knew it was one that he had to do.
“Honest to goodness at that particular time, I had run out of gas,” Mullen said. “There was a year where I was doing soccer, basketball, tennis, a school musical and National Honor Society all at once, and it wasn’t good for my family. It wasn’t good for myself, and I decided that it was a good time to step back. It hurt after having the runs we had in basketball with guys like Matt Dean, Ryan Pelletier, and my son Jordan (Mullen). We had a run where we were at Blue Cross in five years out of seven, and that was special in itself. When it looked like those runs were going to be over, it was the right time to bow out.”
After taking a major step back, one thing was left — boys soccer. Mullen would continue building upon what turned out to be a legendary career on the sidelines for nearly a decade more, compiling one phenomenal season after another leading up to the grand finale this year. It was a trip no one expected, and one that served as a perfect ending to this tale, even if the result was not what it seemed to be.
You could say that the events at the beginning of the season made the trip look bleak at first, with the Eagles slowly making their way out of the gates with a 2-2 start whilst battling injuries and COVID-19 all in one foul swoop. But then something clicked. After a home thrashing from Section VI power Allegany-Limestone at the start of October, a light bulb began to flicker on.
At the same time, a new piece to Mullen’s puzzle on the field was discovered — the arrival of Deen Muzaid-Omar.
His presence on the field was one that helped turn the season around, and gave Fillmore a brand new approach toward success. An approach that consisted of 17 straight wins all the way to the finish line.
“We had a core of guys that really cared, and our coaching staff, I can’t say enough about Jarrett (Vosburg), Wit (Mike Witkowski), and Jordan (Mullen), having their four distinct personalities alongside me. I often compare them to Plato’s Tripartite Soul because, you have Jarrett who is the pure intellectual, Wit is my conscience and character guy, and Jordan is the heart and soul, and passion,” Mullen said. “One of the big things came not long after our slow start, when Deen arrived. After we were 2-2, we had a couple of games where we won, and he comes and we became a different team. Teams were keying on Mitch (Ward) so much, they forgot everyone else. Deen, even Jack Cool and Zach Sisson, both 10th graders. He became a much better soccer player, playing in our program.”
Mullen added on Muzaid-Omar’s presence, saying “At the same time, he gave us another piece to our offensive attack, and it helped us a ton. We started to keep adding the pieces back in the lineup about halfway in the season, and the guys started to grow up. The Wellsville game was incredibly pivotal, and it didn’t help matters that I was out of town for that game, but the fact that even though they got down and managed to pull it out after missing a penalty kick, that gave us that invincibility mindset.”
17 straight wins were accumulated after the start, ultimately leading to their fourth outright Allegany County Division I title in five years, the 24th overall for Mullen in his 31 years with the Eagles, as well as one of the more resilient efforts in Sectionals, allowing just one goal across four games to capture their second Class D1 title in three seasons, the sixth overall in the Mullen Era, grabbing wins over Mount Morris, Wheatland-Chili and Arkport/Canaseraga in the Finals to do so.
Then, their ticket back to Middletown was renewed after a dominating performance in the Class D Far West Regional against Ellicottville, allowing them to roll into soccer’s big stage with perhaps a chance to give their head coach the storybook ending of a lifetime.
It was jump-started in the Class D State Semifinal when Fillmore renewed their longtime rivalry with Section VII’s Chazy, and for over 100 grueling minutes, the Eagles had to find a way to outlast their opposition in the penalty kick session after exchanging blows across a scoreless tie.
With all of their chips essentially being pushed to the center of the table, the Eagles were able to break the bank and advance with one final kick coming from their goalkeeper Luke Colombo, who showed shades of Noah Voss back when the Eagles last earned their berth into the State Finals back in 2000, coming out of the goal to score a goal of his own to make their stay in Middletown worthwhile on the final day of the season.
It was a sensation that Mullen felt instant gratification for.
“You couldn’t ask for a better team with their own personality. It’s a coach’s dream to have a team that wouldn’t necessarily become friends or pals, but to act like brothers and warriors together,” he said. “There was a sense of mutual respect and comradery that you hope to always get, but you almost never do. We got that, and it was special just watching the growth, and the character, and the maturity of these kids to start to care and defend each other. That’s something that I really care about, and I think the other component was getting Chazy. I’m still a little rankled that we didn’t technically beat them, we advanced and watching their horror and disappointment, and disillusionment made it gloriously satisfying to me. They’ve been our nemesis in the State Tournament for quite some time.”
The Eagles would wind up falling shorthanded on the final day, as they succumbed to eventual State Champion Mount Academy, who swept both Class D titles as a school across the soccer realm with the girls team having defeated the Lady Eagles the day before, and then Poland for the title on the next.
A season that saw them finish 19-3-1 overall in Mullen’s last hurrah. It was a day that many thought would never come, but even then, Mullen and his boys never wanted it to end. A sign of it — everyone chose to ride the bus back home to Fillmore over going with their parents.
An inseparable connection from within a season that will remembered for time to come.
“There’s no question that this season is in the mix. I’m going to remember this year for the rest of my life because, it was my swan song,” said Mullen. “It never seemed destined to be, and we clawed our way to it. Another this is that we came back Monday morning, the guys asked if they could play some soccer. I gave the option to the boys to ride home with their parents if they wanted to, and honestly, it was one of those bad choices because we had to ride through terrible snow all the way home. But the guys didn’t want to be apart. Almost everyone was on the ride home, and that says everything about the team. They never wanted this to end, and that whole weekend was surreally satisfying.”
Some more things that the legendary head coach will always remember: The tradition that the school holds, envisioning it on both sides as an educator and coach.
Mullen has had the opportunity to guide numerous star players that have come and gone during his time with the boys soccer program. Some of those exclusive names include his own son, Jordan Mullen, the Webb siblings — Bjorn, Tobias and Levi, and Mitch Ward, who has a very good shot to become the program’s all-time leading goal-scorer when his magnificent high school career comes to a close, next season.
He says by far and away as one of his personal convictions, that maximizing potential from within others has always been his biggest goal.
“Nobody is going to believe me, but at the end of the day, the only thing I care about is those guys are like sons to me. I care about them, they’re in my home, in my hot tub, some of them in the past have dated my daughters. They’re family, they honestly were and Fillmore is a family,” he said. “I had kids that played soccer for me, basketball for me, musicals, not because they wanted to but because it was what we did. All those boys know they come to my house, we would take care of them and they would be family. The fact that we went to States again this year, my phone was blowing up with all sorts of players in the past reminding you of the same feeling they had, and wishing you well while you go for it.”
Mullen spoke of the tradition that Fillmore holds, saying that “It goes back long before I got here. I can’t emphasize how very special it is, and it’s a climate that takes many years to create. I made this a goal for myself and it’s one of my longstanding, personal convictions. The one thing I really wanted to do was to never limit the potential of a kid. What I wanted to do was be in a position to give them what they needed to be successful at the next level. When I watch kids like Aaron Martin and Jordan become All-Americans at Houghton, and Brandon Scott becoming a Hall of Famer in Keuka, it is immensely satisfying, especially for a Class D school like us. They’ve proven it time and time again.”
To serve the school as a teacher just as long as being the coach of the boys soccer program, is another thing. Mullen looks up to individuals like former educator at Fillmore, the late Bruce Brenneman, along with former head coaches Bill Rochester and Roy Bielewicz in helping further his capabilities not only as an educator himself, but as a coach throughout his storied career.
He said there was never a moment where he didn’t believe that he was doing something that another wouldn’t do for him.
“It never dawned on me that I was doing anything. Not one moment was I doing something that somebody hadn’t done for me. When I think of all the people, coach Rochester letting me go on a Sectional bus when I was 11 years old. It was a dumb move, but he took us all away. My teaches, my coaches, that’s what they did for me. Bruce Brenneman taught me musicals, Roy Bielewicz taught me soccer, Ron Sweeney is another name. It was just a matter of doing what someone had done for me. It was never anything I did that made it any sort of special, it was just the way it was done.”
The same can be echoed by a family member of his, inside and out of the school — Girls soccer head coach Jon Beardsley, Mullen’s brother in-law, who commended him on an extraordinary tenure of service and dedication to the school, and even more so personally, making himself a better individual and a better coach having learned from so much from him.
“He’s family first, that’s my brother in-law. There’s guys that make other people better, and he gets the most out of whatever is put in front of him. He’s done that for me as well,” Beardsley said of Mullen. “One of my passions is coaching, and it has been since high school. I would go to games and watch the coaches, not the players. I’ve seen the Gary Wights, the very successful coaches saying certain things on the court, and it’s something that’s always drawn to me. Rich Sullivan is another great example because I was a student-teacher for him years ago, and I listened to him and took parts of what he knows and worked it into my own philosophy.”
Beardsley continued, adding “What is amazing with Jamie, is his ability to maximize potential and go beyond that. He simply makes people better, and he has made me better as a coach. It has been fun to share the field with him, to compete against each other in some ways, the brotherly competition. It’s been rewarding to know when you go out, what you put on the field is going to succeed because a guy like him is coaching. It’s about teaching, and how you can make things before yourself better.”
If there was a particular moment in time that stood out across his career as a coach, Mullen identifies two different occasions when the team went to the State Tournament as his most memorable of moments. The first being their first ever State victory over Blind Brook of Section I in the Semifinal round back in 2000, when Noah Voss sent the Eagles to their first Finals after rallying back in penalty kicks to win.
A moment of near-perfect imagery re-created 21 years later when the Eagles outlasted Chazy in the Semifinals to capture their place in the Finals for a second time in the Mullen regime.
Another time was five years later when the team returned to States, but as an added bonus, a piece of educational pride for the teacher from within, as his group had the highest average across all classifications in New York State that season.
“It’s very difficult to ever replace that initial feeling of winning our first State game in 2000, when we were down in penalty kicks to Blind Brook. Noah Voss came up and made an enormous save during that session, and then we came back and scored two in a row. Then afterward, one of their kids sent the ball way over top of the net to end the game. There was no way we should have won that game, no way. It was very similar to what happened against Chazy. That time was the first time that we turned the corner on what we were capable of doing. That was a huge moment.”
Mullen added on the 2005-06 team, saying "It was one of the most exhilarating moments was when our team went back to the Final Four, and at the same time, they were also the number one academic team in the entire State. Our kids had the highest average across all classifications, and that to me as a teacher, that was what the Renaissance idea was all about.”
The hope is for that idea to carry over, as the Mullen Era of Fillmore’s hefty boys soccer novel has officially been closed. Next Fall, some blank pages will be written by a new author, but it will come from some very familiar faces who will return and continue instilling the tradition that the Eagles have carried across all walks of life over the years.
The program may have their first new face in over 30 years guide the way, but things will mainly remain the same when Mullen officially passes the torch on to Jarrett Vosburg. A former player himself under Mullen, Vosburg already collected his first career win earlier this season for Mullen when they came back to defeat Wellsville at home in October, when the Mullen family left town for a wedding.
Now, it will be his turn full-time.
“I take a great deal of satisfaction that my heir apparent, Jarrett, is going to do the same thing that our tradition holds. He looks at it the same way I do, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m disappearing. It’s going to be in good hands,” he said. “He was prepared when he was in 10th grade to do exactly what he’s going to do next year. I’ll be honest, if he wasn’t here and in the position he’s in, I would coach for another 10 years. I also know how desperately I’ve wanted to get going, and make my stamp and mark on the program. I respect that, and I want Jarrett to do this. It’s the ultimate complement I can pay him, and I know he’s doing to continue exactly that. He’s going to bring things to this program that I couldn’t ever before.”
Mullen has also had the distinct pleasure of sharing the sidelines once more with his son, Jordan over the course of five seasons, now in both perspectives — coach-to-player, and later, a dynamic father-son coaching duo.
The goal now post-career? — Discovering a new adventure.
“Any father would tell you that it’s his dream. In your wildest imagination, when you hold your kid in the hospital for the first time, you hope that some day, he will want to do something alongside you and take great satisfaction in sharing the same values and the sense of service that I do,” Mullen said of his son. “That’s how I’ve enjoyed these past five years when he came back to help coach. I literally could die tomorrow, and I could be the happiest guy in the world. I have had moments that no father ever dreams of having. I’ll be honest, it’s the saddest part out of all this. Jordan and I have to find another adventure, and I’m convinced that it’s around the corner.”
As the season draws to a close, the Eagles accumulated almost every accolade across all Varsity sports imaginable. It was a year the school had never experienced before, and one that will most certainly be remembered for a lifetime. For many reasons. Many I’m sure you already know.
So what does all of this mean for Fillmore itself, going forward for the rest of the year?
Aside from being the coach of girls soccer, the athletic director believes that the bar was already set, but he also wants everyone to remember that this Fall’s success could not have been done without the past experiences that helped lay the brickwork down for what ultimately came to be.
“The bar was set before. This adds some luster to what we’re doing, but the expectation coming in was to simply be the best that you can be,” said Beardsley. “Sometimes results show that, and sometimes they don’t. I don’t want kids, their programs before or after this particular event to be based solely off of something that another school could accomplish, because if we get focused on that, we forget what got us there. That’s hard work, the commitment and the care for one another, supporting each other. If we’re doing that all the time, there’s a great chance that we find success in the win column, as well as being satisfied with who we are as people.”
One of the biggest presences that helped Fillmore succeed the way they were able to, was a constant reminder of home. No matter where everyone was, whether it was up north cheering for the volleyball team, or out east supporting both boys and soccer teams in their respective State Tournaments, the Fillmore community was interlocked every step of the way, and it has become one of the school’s biggest traits.
The service provided, it can be quite difficult to come by, but the way of community is required in order to syphon success from it. From the administration level at the school, to more local programs built along Fillmore’s sports pipelines, and even programs offered from within the school’s halls, it has become a support spectacle unlike any other.
“It speaks about that idea of community. Community involves going to bat for each other. We have a unique community at Fillmore, and in a small rural area, we can be rather diverse of where we come from,” said Beardsley. “To see all of that come together, is really refreshing. For me as an athletic director, it’s really difficult for those kinds of things to happen because it takes a lot of different people, it takes service from a ton of people. It’s not just the Jons, the Jamies, the Fullers, the Wits of the world, it’s a community. We have feeder systems, and it’s not primarily focused on soccer either. I think the involvement from our Little League programs, our Saturday morning programs, the administrative support here at the school. In order to be successful like that, you have to have it. This is just a culmination of a lot of years working toward a common goal. We realize that we have to do it in a year-round cycle, from an academic standpoint to the programs we offer inside the school. Because we push them to be better students, and not just athletes. When you do that, it teaches them and the community to be there for each other. Those ideas should not be understated.”
