ILION – The Sherburne-Earlville Marauders took on the Central Valley Thunder, the tournament hosts, in the championship game. The Thunder kept the title at their school after a 6-1 victory over Sherburne-Earlville Saturday afternoon.

The Marauders started the game out quickly, generating three great opportunities but Central Valley Academy was able to recover, moving on to take firm control of the game by scoring four goals in the first half. 

The Thunder were led by Tournament MVP Derek Streeter’s hat trick followed by teammate Aiden Day’s two goals.

Sherburne-Earlville’s Owen Rodriguez scored his 15th goal of the year as the Marauders’ lone goal of the contest.

The first round took place one day earlier, where the Marauders faced Lowville in the nightcap game.

The game did not start off well for Sherburne-Earlville as an energetic Lowville team endlessly applied pressure to the Marauder defense, forcing two consecutive mistakes.

Lowville’s Colin McManus created the opportunity which teammate Jeramie Lehman capitalized on. McManus beat two S-E defenders on the outside then cut along the end line and took a near post shot. 

Marauders’ keeper Conor Ryan made the initial save, but the rebound found Lehman to give Lowville the early lead. 

First year varsity player Layne Sulton’s performance in the opening round of the tournament was timely for Sherburne-Earlville.

Needing energy up front, Sulton took advantage. His hustle and pressure allowed the Marauders to counter against Lowville.

Keegan Kane’s pass found Owen Rodriguez, who rifled a shot that forced Lowville’s Cooper Myer to pop a save into the air. Sulton the located the ball in the air and redirected it into the net, scoring his first varsity goal. 

In the second half, the Marauders took the lead for good when Sulton received a pass from Nathan Morgan before splitting the Lowville defense with a pass of his own to Owen Rodriguez. Rodriguez then sprung free to beat the lone Lowville defender as well as their goalie, Myer.

“There comes a time for every role player on any given team to shine,” said S-E head coach Michael Rodriguez. “Layne Sulton did for us in the opening round game.”