SOARING BACK TO STATES: Fillmore boys overcome slow 1st half start, steamroll past Ellicottville with 9-0 win to claim 2nd Far West title in three years

Written By Chris Brooks

WILLIAMSVILLE — You could sense on the bus ride up to Williamsville, that there were some nerves lingering in the air. After defeating C.G. Finney back on Tuesday, the Eagles of Fillmore were one step closer to making a return trip back to Middletown and the State Final Four.

It was a position that head coach Jamie Mullen hoped to be in at the beginning of the season, and although the opportunity quickly started to go downhill right in the early stage of the season, his team began to muster some of their best soccer of the season to make it where they are now.

“My wife asked me on the bus ride up here if I expected to be in this position. I will say that before the season started, I said absolutely. But as the season progressed, I felt like we were getting cursed.” he said. “There were some kids that were getting hurt, we had a bunch of other issues and there was always that possibility of COVID lurking all the time that threatened to end anyone’s season. We got a bit of a rhythm down right in the middle of the season, and that allowed us to start playing our best soccer.”

The Eagles have won 16 straight games, and in all of their postseason battles, they have allowed just a single goal.

In order to make it back to the State Tournament, they would have to work their way past an opponent they have already faced twice this year — Section VI, Class D champion Ellicottville, a foe they have outscored by a 16-2 margin.

With everything happening in Fillmore all at once in what is a Fall season like no other, it would only be appropriate if the Eagles boys soccer team kept that excitement rolling.


Even though there was a slow start to begin the afternoon, they went on to do so. And then some.

The Jamie Mullen Farewell Tour for the Eagles will end out east in Middletown next week, as the team traveled up north to Williamsville South and recorded a 3-0 first half lead against Ellicottville they never looked back on, scoring six more goals in the second half as the offense returned to form to win the program’s second Far West Regional title in three years with a 9-0 rout of the Section VI champs on Saturday.

With the win, Fillmore has become the first school in nearly 10 years to send both boys and girls squads to the State Final Four in a single season. The last team to do it was Bolivar-Richburg back in 2014, when both the Baseball and Softball teams headed by Dustin Allen and Stan Harris went for it all at the big dance.

Now, it will be Mullen and Jon Beardsley’s turn come next Saturday in Middletown and Cortland, respectively.

“I’m grateful for my coaches, for the fans. It’s every kids dream to make it to this point,” Mullen said. “We’re a goofy bunch, and I’m so proud of them and what we’ve been able to accomplish. The best thing about Fillmore boys soccer is that aside from play, they do musicals, they’re in the school band, we have a couple of kids that will be Valedictorians of the school down the line. They’re just whole kids, and they’re great people. I’m proud of them for this ride that we’ve been able to set out on, and the best part is that it’s not over yet.”

In order to punch their ticket back out east, the Eagles (19-2) had to overcome what was a slow first half of the first half, as they applied all the pressure they could against Ellicottville deep in the offensive zone, garnering multiple chances along the way. A couple of chances to be specific: a Deen Muzaid-Omar corner straight to the head of Mitch Ward, who applied the shot, but went just wide of the far post.

Their best chance to score in the opening stage of the half came on a loose ball inside the box. Multiple Eagles took jabs at the ball to try and find the back of the net, but could not find the right kick to put it away, as Ellicottville provided a massive heads up play to send the ball out of the zone far enough to regroup on defense.

But even with the opportunities, the Eagles were able to get on the board just past halfway with Jack Cool earning the honors of doing so by connecting with Carter Sisson’s send-in to the front of the Ellicottville cage, knocking it away at the 18-minute mark to earn the 1-0 icebreaker.

“If there was ever a chance where weird upsets can happen, it’s in soccer. It doesn’t happen in basketball or football,” Mullen said. “I just asked my assistant coach why is it that it always takes 25 minutes for us to get going? Because it’s us, and we’re a weird bunch, what can I say. Maybe we’re not the brightest crayons in the box, but it’s something that we’ve been able to handle. They’re good kids, and there are nerves. It doesn’t matter who you play, and the pressure that’s on these kids, it’s real. If we came out here and lost this, it would be the greatest upset in history.”

Mullen added, “That pressure works on you, and it makes you miss and make mistakes. Every time that the ball didn’t get to the back of the net, and there were a few chances where it happened. It felt like the ball was velcroed to the goal line, and you begin to wonder that if they hit a direct kick, how much of a different game it could be.”

It took a while for Fillmore’s tires to kick into gear, but with the first goal now under wraps, the team would go on to score two more in the last eight minutes of the opening half, as Zach Sisson and Deen Muzaid-Omar added goals of their own, with Sisson connecting with the net on a high sailing shot from about 25 yards away from the Ellicottville net, rising over the keeper and in at the 7:47 mark.

Later on, Muzaid-Omar with two minutes left to play, provided back-to-back corner kick chances for the Eagles. The latter of which was an immaculate elliptical to the near post netting, which allowed the team to branch their lead out to three when halftime hit.

Then, a very long discussion for Mullen with his team, all the way down to the halftime-ending horn. The message he sent was straightforward — do not stop working.

“They’re good kids and every day, I want them to be even better than they already are. We’re not done, and we didn’t stop working two weeks ago because it was the end of the regular season,” he said. “At the end of the day, I want them to be better players, and even more, better human beings. We’ve always been a second half team, and it takes us a while to get going. The reality is that they were fighting really hard with us, and then they get down 3-0, and it starts to feel like you’re trying to part the Red Sea. We weren’t going to let that happen.”

No, they didn’t.

Instead, the Eagles offense in the second half returned to form by building onto their three-goal lead of Ellicottville, netting not one, or two, nor three, but six more goals in the last 40 minute session to solidify all the hope there was to finish out their 2021 campaign on the very last weekend of the soccer season — in the Class D State Tournament.

Fillmore’s lead grew to five in the first 10 minutes of the final half with Muzaid-Omar and Mitch Ward scoring the first tallies, with Muzaid-Omar trapping a big throw-in from the sidelines, and then pirouetting his way past the Ellicottville defense to knock in the goal. Ward followed four minutes later with his first of two on back-to-back offensive possessions for the Eagles, weaving through the defense both times to find the back of the net.

Jack Cool would tally his second of the game, as well as Zach Sisson, and in between, a Brent Zubikowski laser beam from the top of the box to wrap up what was a nine-goal, 20-shot effort by Fillmore to power up the rout, allowing their season to continue in full force.

Along with Carter Sisson’s helper on Cool’s first tally, Cool and Eben Schilke each added in two assists of their own, while Muzaid-Omar had one off Zubikowski’s late goal in the second half.

In goal, Luke Colombo and Mike McCumiskey combined to record all four stops for the defense to preserve the shutout, with Colombo receiving credit for the team’s fourth blanking of the Sectional Tournament.

Next weekend, it will be a Saturday like no other as both Fillmore soccer squads will take the stage in the State Tournament, with the ladies heading to Cortland High School to face Mount Academy from Section IX, while the boys will face New York State powerhouse Chazy, representing Section VII.

The boys will square off with Chazy in the Class D State Semifinal round at Twin Towers Middle School in Middletown, beginning in a 12:45 p.m. first kick. The winner will advance into State Finals the next day, which are set to begin at 3:30 p.m. next Sunday at Faller Field in Middletown.

We at WellsvilleSports.com would like to wish Coach Mullen, his staff and the Eagles all the very best going forward into the final weekend of soccer, at the New York State Tournament.

Chris Brooks
Previous

Fillmore grabs early start, rebound after 3rd set marathon to advance to Class D Qualifier with four-set win over Alexander
Next

THE BEST IN THE WEST: Lady Eagles break late 2nd half scoreless tie with Ellicottville, soar to State Final Four behind 2-0 shutout to capture Far West title