After thrilling win over Section V power Avon, Lions keep foot down on gas to deliver another big punch, hand Class C State-ranked Campbell-Savona 1st defeat with 3-2 winning edge

WELLSVILLE — Across a humongous 24-hour elongation leading into Wednesday night, the Wellsville Lions will know exactly where they stand.

With less than two weeks remaining until the big Fall dance makes its impending arrival in Section V, the time to hit the grindstone was now. Sitting in front of them, two incredible challenges — those being longtime Section V powerhouse Avon, and Class C State-ranked unbeaten Campbell-Savona.

The gauntlet commenced on Tuesday, when the Lions went to war with the Riverhawks in a game of limited opportunity all throughout the 80 minutes of play. But when that one shot and one opportunity was appropriate, the Lions proved that the time was indeed right behind Aiden Cowburn’s game-winning marker with nearly 10 minutes remaining to shut the door on Avon with a 1-0 victory.

Wednesday night, they were back on the field again, this time with a completely different animal of the kingdom: The Campbell-Savona Panthers, a Class C superpower that has yet to find the defeat column this season. The Lions have come close before, just over a week ago, as they planted the Panthers with everything imaginable but could not finish off their potential game-tying expedition in what was a 2-1 win for the hosts.

Now, it was Wellsville’s turn to do the damage with the Panthers in town to close out their season series.

The Panthers went ahead and put Wellsville on their feet early on defense, with Gavin Haggerty becoming extremely active between both posts to record a bundle of saves, ranging from dives across the front of the net, to swatting the ball in every direction imaginable to keep it out of harm’s way. But despite the pressure, it turned into momentum for the Lions offense to feast from, as they flipped the switch and delivered two big strikes in consecutive fashion to ring the bell and gain the advantage.

One they never lost again.

With Blake Kalkhof giving Wellsville the lead going into the break, Aiden Cowburn followed behind him in the late stages of battle with two more to add into the mix, all while the defense successfully warded off a phenomenal last stand from the Panthers to complete the hardest two-game set of the season on the most positive of notes — a 3-2 winning edge over the visiting Panthers, handing them their first loss of 2024.

“These boys are playing with composure and grit,” said Lions coach Bethany Faulkner. “They are answering at the right times, and they’re having fun while they’re doing it. They’re taking it all in stride together as a team. Aiden and Blake are looking for every opportunity to score, Evan (Billings) and Karson (Grover) are playing both ways really well, and my defense is talking and moving the ball to the front. Whatever is unanswered, Lucius (Griggs) and Gavin (Haggerty) will clean up. That 24 hours is what we’ve worked for all season.”

In the midst of Gavin Haggerty and his bounty of saves early on against Campbell-Savona, the Lions (5-2-4) answered the call just past midway in the opening frame beginning with a nuke from Lucius Griggs way back in the defensive zone. On the kick down field, he delivered straight to the lap of Blake Kalkhof, who carved right through a pair of Panthers defenders on the way to the goal, firing home his shot for an early 1-0 advantage with 17:40 left to play in the frame.

The Panthers would receive perhaps their best chance to tie the game at one towards the end of the stanza, when a 50-50 ball directly in front of the Lions net allowed Haggerty to push out and pursue, only for the opposition to beat him out to the ball. After a quick gather, the Panthers applied a shot directly at Haggerty, who allowed to make the grab.

Haggerty went on to finish with nine big saves against Campbell-Savona, as each team recorded 11 shots on their respective cages in the game.

In the second half, Wellsville branched their lead to a pair just four minutes in, as they kept the foot down on the gas off a bad redirection in front from Campbell-Savona and right back to Kalkhof to earn a corner kick. With it, Aiden Cowburn was able to greet the ball with some spin, knocking in a beautiful header over the Panthers keeper to make it a 2-0 lead, and fast.

Campbell-Savona was provided many opportunities to attempt and cut the deficit, being granted with one to cut the lead in half over midway. After a through-ball and attempt to clear by Wellsville was intercepted at the 20-yard line, Cody Mansfield made a run before slowing his pace down to deliver a shot from range that possessed plenty of zip, but also consisted of a small bounce to go directly past Haggerty and into the goal next to the near post.

Wellsville would get their two-goal lead back a few rushes later, as they were captained by Ty Vogel and his extraordinary bomb down field for Cowburn to collect in front of him. Upon the long boot’s arrival deep in the Panthers zone, Cowburn picked up possession and continued to push the advantage forward right into a defender in front of the net.

In the same swing, he drove the momentum of what was a blocked attempt forward and right into the net for a gigantic 3-1 lead heading into the last 10 minutes.

The Panthers weren’t going to show signs of quitting either, as they kept Wellsville on pins and needles all the way to the final horn, turning the temperature up even more by closing the gap to a single goal following a long run up the far sideline by Josh Ignatz. At the very edge of the back line while under immense pressure, Ignatz sent along a pass to his left and to the front that cleaved through a trio of Lions defenders before meeting the foot of Trevor Allington and his goal right to the near side of the Wellsville cage.

After the goal, Campbell-Savona ramped up the intensity to put the Lions up against the wall in the waning stages of play. The pressure, consisting of multiple corner kicks, as well as great plays by the Panthers offense to keep the ball moving in play. But in the end, the deficit ultimately became too much for the State-ranked Class C superpower to overcome, as the hosts in black and orange came away with a perfect 48 hours of victorious soccer to tuck away in their back pocket.

Wellsville is now away from action until Friday night, as they hop on the bus and travel to Cuba-Rushford to meet the Rebels in a 5 p.m. contest.