Byram Hills caps a memorable week with a 2-0 win over Rye in the Section 1 Class A final
SHRUB OAK – What a week.
Byram Hills picked up memorable win after memorable win after memorable win to claim the Section 1 Class A title. A bumpy 2-0 win over Rye on Saturday at Lakeland High School capped the unexpected run.
“I did not see this coming,” Bobcats coach Matty Allen said. “We struggled early. We had a lot of ties where we just couldn’t finish. We couldn’t get it together. Right around October 1, we started to figure it out.”
It's the program's first title since 2017.
The week opened with a win over an up-and-coming win over Panas. Next came a surprise win over previously unbeaten Tappan Zee.
And now this.
“The only people who believed we could do this were in our locker room,” Byram Hills defender Connor Boekel said. “Coming up and winning the last three games, winning sectionals when nobody expected this is just the best feeling ever.”
Both defenses were on the ball in a hurry. It was a chore to make three or four connections to build a quality scoring chance.
“It was a very ugly game,” Allen said. “We talked about it at halftime. Rye is fierce in the middle. We tried connecting some passes, but they were right on the ball every time we turned, so we told our forwards when they get an opportunity, take defenders on and finish. If there’s one thing about those two guys up top, they can finish.”
Those guys are Billy Gillespie and Chris Amenedo, who got creative and ended 65 minutes of scoreless play. Each of them scored a goal in a span of two minutes.
It happens a lot.
“The first half didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Gillespie said. “At halftime we settled down and got with the environment. I have no idea why we seem to score in bunches. We just keep going and when we do score, it’s a lot of fun.”
Game balls
Boekel was a force on the defensive end, the guy Rye continually ran into whenever the Garnets worked the ball deep.
Jacob Berland, Greg Shrayer and Harrison Boyd are the Bobcats who eventually settled into their roles in the middle of the field earlier this month and got this team headed in the right direction. They made a difference again in this one.
By the numbers
No. 4 Byram Hills (14-2-4): Gavin Nicols made three saves. ... The Bobcats have given up just one goal in the playoffs.
No. 2 Rye (13-4-1): Max Crothall made five saves.
They said it
"At the start of the year, the expectations were low, but as we kept playing the chemistry got better and everything started to click," Gillespie said. "You can tell by the scores, we killed the playoffs. We only let in one goal. We kind of dominated."
"These are two strong defensive teams, so this is the game we expected," Rye coach Jared Small said. "In a lot of ways, this was a new team from last year. I’m not surprised we got here because we worked really hard and put in time. It was rewarded."
"There was a lot of stress before games, a lot of pride, a lot of passion between all of us," Boekel said. "In the playoffs, we found that bond. We found that next gear. We’ve played our three best games of the season this week and it showed on the scoreboard."
Up next
Byram Hills plays the Section 4 champion at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Hen Hud High School.
Mike Dougherty covers boys soccer for The Journal News and lohud.com. Follow along @hoopsmbd.
It was a grind.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Boys soccer: Byram Hills tops Rye in Section 1 Class A title game
