CHAZY — Drew Pero is content to play in the midfield, but Monday, the outside halfback jumped at the chance to move up to the front line.
"He usually doesn't want to play up top, but tonight, I could tell he really wanted it," said NCCS Coach Dale Hawksby. "We were missing one of our forwards and Drew came to me. He's a gamer."
Pero assisted on the first goal and then struck the eventual game-winner with less than 15 minutes to play, sending Northeastern Clinton (13-2-1) on to a 2-1 victory over Beekmantown and a berth in Friday's Section VII Class B soccer championship. The Cougars will meet the winner of Wednesday's PHS-Saranac game for the title.
Northeastern Clinton and Beekmantown (12-4) battled through a scoreless first half.
The Cougars broke through just 1:35 into the second half with Devan Poissant scoring. Poissant got a shot off in a scramble in front, but the ball went off a defender. Pero managed to play the ball back in with the deflection going right to Poissant, who poked it in the net.
Beekmantown knotted it at one when Mark Price, up from the junior varsity, scored at 20:32, assisted by Shayne Peterson. Price let go with a shot from 25 yards out that had some sinking action in front of NCCS keeper Casey Manor. The ball managed to get underneath Manor and into the net.
The Cougars came back at 25:38. Dylan Carter pushed the ball up the left side and found Paro in the middle, just before the line. Paro, striking the ball with his left foot, tucked it in the right corner of the net.
"It was back-and-forth for a while, but I thought we had the better of the scoring chances," Hawksby added.
Northeastern Clinton outshot Beekmantown 15-7 with Manor making 15 saves and Brett Smith, 13, for the Eagles.
"Beekmantown has a real quality team and they really put us to the test tonight," said Hawksby. "Once again, my defense came through ... Randy Grimshaw, Fred Hapgood, Rob Armstrong and Nick Guay."
Zach Towle and Malo Valerien stood out for the Eagles, along with sweeper Ben Smith.
Brett Smith also had a strong game in goal.
"We had pretty good pressure on him," Hawksby said.
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NCCS 2, B'town 1
Beekmantown01—1
No. Clinton02—2
Second half- 1, NCCS, Poissant (Pero), 1:35. 2, Btn, Price (Peterson), 20:32. 3, NCCS, Pero (Carter), 25:38.
Shots: NCCS, 15; B'town, 7.
Saves: Manor, NCCS, 6; Br. Smith, B'tn, 13.
Saranac 4, Peru 2
PERU — Jacob Martindale scored twice in the second half to help the Chiefs pull away from the Indians.
Saranac (6-8-3) advances to play Plattsburgh High (12-2-1) Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Chazy in the Class B semifinals.
Jon Brown staked Saranac to an early lead eight minutes into the game, but Peru (8-9) countered on eighth-grader Ian Spear's first varsity goal at 14:12.
However, the Indians gave up an own goal two minutes later and the Chiefs never trailed after that.
Martindale scored at 12:21 and 29:32 to push Saranac's lead to 4-1 before Eric Mitchell put in an unassisted goal for Peru at 38:14.
Saranac held a 16-11 edge in shots with Billy Badger making nine saves for the Chiefs. Dan Caron had 12 stops for Peru.
Saranac, with its depth, was able to wear down Peru, which was still feeling the effects of a flu outbreak last week.
Alex Holtsclaw and Kyle Kostyk stood out for the Chiefs while Taylor Spear and Greg Johnson had strong games for Peru.
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Saranac 4, Peru 2
Saranac22—4
Peru11—2
First half- 1, Sar, Brown (Smith), 8:09. 2, P, I. Spear (Johnson), 14:12. 3, Sar, own goal by Peru, 16:11.
Second half- 4, Sar, Martindale (Jenks), 12:21. 5, Sar, Martindale (Kostyk), 29:32. 6, Peru, Mitchell, 38:14.
Shots: Saranac, 16; Peru, 11.
Saves: Caron, P, 12; Badger, Sar, 9.
