Canton 12 – Brushton-Moira 0
The Bears hosted Brushton-Moira on Oct. 24 with a trip to the Class C championship on the line. The Bears took advantage of many early opportunities, as they scored six goals in the first half. Junior Ethan Francey scored twice and assisted once, and fellow junior Ryan Jones had a goal and an assist as well. Junior Jacob Rosales and seniors Zakaria Moumen and Nate Romano scored the rest of the Bears first half goals. The Bears strong midfield and defensive play prevented Bruston-Moira from getting any scoring opportunities.
The second half was much like the first, as the Bears scored six more times. Moumen added another goal and an assist to his impressive game, and Francey added another assist to his stat line. Seniors Josh Aldous, Christian Simons and Noah Curry, along with juniors Garritt Palmer and Jonney Mclear rounded off the scoring for the Bears. Senior Owen Hall played another excellent defensive game, dominating the middle of the field and even adding an assist. Bears goaltending, which was split between sophomore Jackson Ames and freshman Zadok Roiger, finished with three saves and the shutout. The big win for the Bears marked the final boys soccer game ever on Roger Dusharm field, as the capital athletic project, which includes a new turf field, will be the home field for the Bears in the future.
Class C Championship Game
Canton 4 – Madrid-Waddington 0
The Bears headed to Potsdam High School to face off against Madrid-Waddington for the Class C title. The Bears were filled with energy, partly due to their girls’ soccer title in the game prior to theirs. Looking to join the girls’ team as champions, the Bears got out to a quick start. Despite a few jitters, Canton’s energy seemed to be just too much for the Yellow-Jackets to handle.
After struggling with some first-touches, the Bears finally broke through as Jonney Mclear sprung Francey loose on a breakaway, which he scored on. Just five minutes later, senior Brad Frank drew a foul inside the offensive 18-yard box, leading to a penalty kick. Jones buried it into the back of the net to give Canton a 2-0 lead. Even though they didn’t score again in the first half, the Bears felt like they had a commanding lead going into half time.
The Bears came out firing once again in the second half. Francey scored his second as sophomore Josh Mclear, brother of Jonney, gave him a perfect pass for the goal. Francey wasn’t done yet, as he assisted on a Frank goal later in the second half. The Bears substitutes came in and locked down the Madrid-Waddington offense for the last 20 minutes of the game, securing the championship win for the Bears. Ames had three saves in the win.
The Bears had four All-Northern award winners. Senior Vincent Nelson- Fuse and Jones were awarded Second Team, and Francey was awarded First Team. Also, Hall won the Defensive MVP award for the Central Division. Senior Jack Kerrigan won the Sportsmanship award and Romano won the Athlete of Distinction award.
The Bears will travel to Section II to face Maple Hill on Wednesday, at 4:00.
The game will be streamed on the NFHS network.
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