08/25/06
Panthers looking for right answers
Will be tested early as season opens for 14 area teams today
HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
By Dean Russin
Sports Editor
Defending Section Four Class D boys soccer champion Edmeston will be put to the test before school starts this fall.
One of 14 teams set to open the 2006 soccer season today, the Panthers host Cherry Valley-Springfield at noon in the first round of the Edmeston Kickoff Tournament.
The four-team event also features a 10 a.m. meeting between Morris and Davenport, which fell to the Panthers, 3-2 in overtime, in the 2005 sectional championship game.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]"I think they’re going to worry a lot of people this year," first-year Edmeston coach Ed Wheeldon said of Davenport, which also fell by one goal (2-1) in the Delaware League championship game against Downsville last season.
"They’re probably the favorite," he continued. "They’ve got everybody back, they’ve got the whole cast of characters, and they’re going to be hungry."
Jennifer Henderson’s Wildcats return Daily Star First Team All-Stars Brandon Butts and Joe Ballard, along with Daily Star honorable mention Dan Toombs and starting goalie Brandon Cuddy. All four players also helped Davenport’s basketball team to the state semifinals last winter.
"Our goal is to get back to that game (the sectional championship)," Henderson said. "That’s a tough goal to achieve, but ultimately, we’d like to win that game."
Henderson said the two-day Edmeston tournament should give her team an idea of what to expect this season.
"It’s nice to see some Tri-Valley faces early, but these are the first two days you can play, so anything can happen," she said. "Hopefully, we get to face Edmeston. We have to get by Morris and they have to get past Cherry Valley-Springfield, but we have a chance to meet. Edmeston lost some players, but they’re still the Section Four champions."
Edmeston will look to senior Colin Bliss to help fill the void left by the graduation of 2005 Daily Star Player of the Year Ryan Laymon. As a freshman, Bliss scored three goals in Edmeston’s 3-1 state championship victory over Section Nine’s Seward in 2003. He also contributed to a seven-game unbeaten streak that led the Panthers to their second sectional title in three seasons last fall.
"We’re going to run Bliss back-and-forth depending on how the flow of game is going," said Wheeldon, an Edmeston assistant who took over after the school fired 2005 Daily Star Coach of the Year Jim Huntington on April 13. "It’s very difficult to replace a player of Ryan’s magnitude, but Colin’s our go-to guy."
Edmeston also returns goalie Nick Benjamin, a senior who took over as the Panthers’ starter when Huntington moved Tony DeGristina to offense toward the end of last season.
"I don’t think we have the type of team that we can look past anybody, really," Wheeldon said. "We have to come to every game and play hard, and sometimes that might not be good enough."
Unadilla Valley and Margaretville open the girls side of the Edmeston Kickoff Tournament at 2:30 p.m. today. The Panthers follow at 4:30 p.m. against Stamford.
Midstate Athletic Conference rivals Bainbridge-Guilford and host Sidney will meet in the opening rounds of the girls and boys Mang Tournament today, at 5 and 7 p.m., respectively. Windsor and Chenango Valley round out each tournament.
Stamford and Windham also start their seasons at 10 a.m. today.
Oneonta High’s boys and girls open at home Saturday. Oneonta’s boys host Norwich at 11 a.m. and its girls host Owego at 1 p.m.
The Yellowjackets moved down from Class A to Class B for sectionals this year.
Owego contributed to the first losing girls soccer season in Yellowjackets’ history last year, beating Oneonta, 2-1 and 2-0, in the Southern Tier Athletic Conference. The OHS girls finished 8-9-1 in 2005, falling, 2-0, to Maine-Endwell in a Section Four Class A semifinal. That loss also marked the first time the Yellowjackets failed to win a sectional title since 1998.
