After slow 1st half start, Lions bring the heat with pair of goals to set the tone in their 3-1 road victory over Scio

Wellsville senior Alex Ordiway (1) looks to work his way around the defense of Scio sophomore Chase Kinnicut (4) at midfield during Friday night’s contest in Scio. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville sophomore Gavan Dickerson (15) and Scio sophomore Max Morris (9) joust for the loose ball near the sidelines during Friday night’s contest in Scio. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Scio junior Jude Marion (7) clears the ball out of the reach of Wellsville sophomore Cody Costello (20) during Friday night’s contest in Scio. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Scio senior Cam Loucks (12) looks to jar the ball loose from the offense provided by Wellsville junior Matt Carlton (5) during Friday night’s contest in Scio. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Scio sophomore Jordan White (6) dribbles the ball under pressure from the defense of Wellsville senior Liam McKinley (12) during Friday night’s contest in Scio. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville freshman Ethan Bailey sends the ball up the field off an indirect kick during Friday night’s road contest in Scio. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

SCIO — The Lions of Wellsville so far this season have used their mixed bag of senior leadership and up and coming youth behind them to lead themselves towards quite a bit of success in their condensed 2020 season.

Having won five of the last seven games, the Lions were looking for more when they visited the Scio Tigers on a cold Friday night. A night that may or may not have seen a very light snow shower.

Through a slow moving first half of play, the momentum began to pick up when Wellsville began to garner scoring chances. Those led to cracks in the ice, but the more the chances mounted, the bigger the opening it would create. With under 15 minutes left in the half, the Lions did just that behind a pair of big goals to jump ahead of Scio at the break, staying ahead for good to pull away toward a 3-1 victory over the Tigers.

“We’re playing some of these teams for the second time, and we’re making big improvements each step of the way. We lost 4-0 to Wellsville a couple of weeks back, but we’re still making those adjustments to be better. We have a lot of young guys that are starting to come along, and we’re laying down these building blocks for next year. We’ve had an issue scoring goals this year, but overall, we’re a lot better than we were two weeks ago.”

Quinn Heaney provided the biggest chance for Wellsville (6-1-1) leading up to their first goal just past the halfway mark of the opening half, providing a big pass up the field to find Dominic Sawyer. As he made the run, he lets his shot go but it sailed high over the Scio net and away. But on the next offensive rush, the Lions were able to crack through.

With a big scrum formulating in front of the Scio (2-6-2) cage, Wellsville takes multiple attempts to jam away at the ball in hopes of putting it in. But the ball would slither to the feet of Cody Costello, who found the narrowest of openings right next to the far post to hang the first score on the board with nearly 13 minutes left in the half.

Wellsville would hit their stride soon afterward. On the next offensive rush into the Scio zone, they would connect on another goal. After Scio forced a corner kick opportunity, the Lions made the most out of it, as Alex Ordiway delivered the kick from the near sidelines corner. The ball sailed high on goal, but enough for Cory Bolzan to make the initial save. But the ball slipped out of his grasp, and right to the feet of Sam Schmidt to put away for the 2-0 lead at the half.

The lead only grew from there, as the Lions branched the lead out to three on the Tigers right at the halfway mark of the final half of play, as Aidan Riley connected on a goal of his own on a carry into the zone for a 3-0 lead. With 11 minutes remaining, Scio would not go down easy as they would manage to end the shutout with the assistance of Trentin White’s first goal of the season, finding the back of the Wellsville net off a pass from Jordan White to cut the deficit down to a pair. But it would not be enough in the end to overcome.

As a result, Wellsville outshot Scio by a 9-4 count, with Logan Dunbar grabbing the win in goal for the Lions, making two stops. On the other side, Bolzan settled for five haves himself for the Tigers.

The Lions will now take an extended break away from action to regroup, as they prepare to wrap up the season with their last game over the road beginning on Thursday with a trip to visit the unbeaten Fillmore Eagles in a 6 p.m. contest.

As for the Tigers, the chance to turn the ship back into the right direction will continue on Monday back on their home field, as they welcome in the Cuba-Rushford Rebels for a 7 p.m. contest under the lights.

“The next step for us is Cuba coming here, and then going to Genesee Valley to finish up. Those were tight games the first time around,” said McFall. “This is the next step for us, and hopefully we’ll have Sectionals to look forward to as well. We played a tough scheduled so far with this young group, and I hope this pays off for them. There’s not a lot of smaller schools around that can say that they’ve played a tougher schedule than we have. I hope this makes us better.”