Regardless of the standings or postseason outlook of either team, bragging rights are always on the line when Jamestown and Lafayette meet in boys soccer.
But it just so happened that this season, the Bay Rivers District title also happened to be up for grabs when the two rivals met with identical 6-1-1 district records for both teams’ regular season finale Monday night.
In a game that was tightly contested throughout, Jeff Wolons scored seven minutes in to give Jamestown the lead for good as the Eagles held on for a 1-0 victory on Senior Night at Wanner Stadium.
Despite the Virginia High School League’s new alignment that breaks up the Bay Rivers District in the postseason, the district is awarding the boys soccer team at the top of the regular season standings with a trophy, O’Brien said.
In addition to the town bragging rights and district title, the win also secured Jamestown a No. 1 seed in next week’s 4A Conference 19 tournament with the win. Lafayette will be the second-seeded team in the 3A Colonial Conference 25 tournament.
“We wanted the bragging rights to say that we were the best team in the district, regardless of classification,” Jamestown Coach Bobby O’Brien said.
Wolons’ goal was well-deserved, as he was marked tightly by Lafayette defenders all game. O’Brien said Wolons took a throw-in from roughly 35 yards and made his way across field before spinning back to the middle. He faked a shot that sent a few Rams defenders past him, and then made his way into the box before ripping a shot into the upper-right corner of goal.
“It was a great individual effort,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien added that keeping Lafayette off the scoreboard for the remaining 70 minutes was a team effort, though.
He credited Daniel McKay-Roberts, Matt Cullom and Kyle Wade in the back with doing a nice job blocking shots and not allowing the Rams’ quality looks on goal.
Lafayette made a strong push for the equalizer late but came up short in its fight for a second consecutive district title.
Jamestown 1 Lafayette 0
Goals: Jamestown- Wolons
Jamestown Girls Rout Rivals
Aaliyah Lyttle scored three goals and Megan Foret tallied three assists as Jamestown’s girls ran away from Lafayette 8-0 at Wanner Stadium.
The Eagles, who also got a pair of goals from Bailey Cristian, went up 5-0 at the half and never looked back.
Jamestown 8 Lafayette 0
Grafton’s Sidhu Earns 200th Career Coaching Victory
Senior Aaron Kaye scored a season-high four goals to lead Grafton’s boys past Smithfield 6-3 on the road Monday.
The victory marked the 200th win in 19 years coaching high school boys soccer for the Clippers’ Paul Sidhu.
Dylan Lorio-McNamara and Jay Fox also scored for the Clippers.
