Caitlin Bailey runs to victory, Will Johnson a force in goal, and Varsity boys heading to soccer sectionals

Plans are in the works for the 3rd Annual Craig Sears and Matt Girouard Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser, which includes a basketball tournament, spaghetti dinner, raffle, and numerous other activities, and has received tremendous support from our extremely thoughtful and generous community.

We will be contacting last year’s team captains through Facebook and invite anyone who would like to participate in the tournament, donate an item for the raffle, or volunteer to lend a hand to contact myself or Giselle Kress.

And thank you in advance to the many loyal business supporters of the Scholarship Fund, as well as the Wandering Eskimo Basketball Boosters over the years.

Knowing we can count on you makes planning smooth and demonstrates the commitment and dedication that is out there.

More information will be forthcoming in The Weekly Adiron-dack, so stay tuned!

Now, let’s see what our student-athletes have been up to…

Boys & Girls Varsity X-Country

It’s been an unusual year for the runners, what with scheduling conflicts and injuries, but there were some nice performances at Herkimer Community College on Wednesday, October 12 that deserve a look.

Lance Frymire must have felt pretty lonely out there as he was the only Eskimo at the meet representing the boys.

That said, he made the most of his opportunity, placing seventh in a very competitive group that included Herkimer and Sherburne-Earlville.

The girls found themselves missing one of their elite members, as Maddie Phaneuf was unable to participate due to an ongoing muscle strain.

That, however, didn’t stop Caitlin Bailey from blowing away the entire field as she not only placed first, but crossed the finish line by an astounding 1:38 ahead of the next runner in.

Great times were also posted by Andrea Frey and Jessica Hannah, who finished in the seventh and eighth slots, respectively.

Next on tap for the cross country runners is the CSC League Championships coming up on Saturday, October 22 with the first race scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

Try to make a point of showing up for that one if you’re able. Both teams should be at full strength and could use the support.

Girls JV and Varsity Soccer

The JV squad had but one contest this week, on Friday, October 14, and it was against a team that gave them fits the first time around.

This time, Holland Patent faced a much different group of ladies from Old Forge.

The Eskimos were on point all day and, despite the fact that the offense wasn’t producing, had to feel fantastic as they maintained a scoreless tie until late in the second period.

Unfortunately for these scrappy Eskimos, their opponents snuck one by as the clock was winding down, leading to a 1–0 loss.

All in all, though, it was a legitimate moral victory as the girls gave a team that had run them ragged earlier in the season a run for their money.

The week started out on a high note for the Varsity team when they traveled to Rome Catholic on Tuesday, October 11.

They rode Andrea Frey’s two goals, plus scores from Lauren Holt and Daria Orekhov to a thrilling 4–0 shutout in a game which also featured six saves from Jessica Menges.

Many were hoping that the fine outing against RC would propel the girls to bigger and better things as the week played out, but it wasn’t meant to be.

While Orekhov and Katie Connell did each manage a goal against Poland on Thursday, October 13, those were the lone bright spots as the team took one on the chin, losing 7–2.

Then, when they hosted Oriskany on Saturday, October 15, things seemed to be headed in the right direction as Mallory Kleps found Orekhov, who took full advantage, staking the Eskimos to a 1-0 lead.

It all went south from there, though, as the next three goals all came off the foot of the opposition.

To their credit, down 3–1, Old Forge stuck with it and did manage to draw to within a score when Maddie Phaneuf took a nice pass from Connell and drove it home.

What then followed was a flurry of activity from the Eskimos that included several scoring chances.

In the end, however, they just couldn’t quite get the job done and were saddled with a 3-2 loss.

In my many years of covering sports, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a group of athletes who worked any harder or did a better job sticking together, only to wind up on the wrong end of the stick.

They wrap their season up this week against Westmoreland and I, for one, hope they can get an overdue break or two and close the year out with a much-earned celebration.

Boys JV and Varsity Soccer

Unlike their female counterparts, the JV boys were under the gun with three games last week.

The first would be a home game against Herkimer on Monday, October 10.

If all you saw was the final score of 2–0 in favor of the Eskimos, you might assume that it was a fairly close contest, which couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Outshooting their foes 38–6, Old Forge kept Herkimer’s goalie very busy, forcing him into eighteen saves.

Meanwhile, Eskimo keeper Will Johnson had time for a shave and a haircut in net, as he rarely saw action.

Such was not the case two days later on Wednesday, October 12 in Hamilton.

Dane Daiker and Hunter Lawrence provided a seemingly comfortable 2–0 lead early on, but it was all Hamilton from then on.

If not for Johnson’s numerous timely saves, this one would have gone down as a loss for sure.

Fortunately, with the game knotted up at 2–2, he came up big again and again, ultimately salvaging an OT tie rather than what could have been a devastating loss.

Having notched a win and a tie to that point, the guys went out and laid an egg against Owen D. Young on Thursday, October 13.

ODY was the aggressor throughout, and walked away with an easy 8–1 win, with Old Forge’s only score coming off a direct kick by Daiker long after things had been decided.

As for the Varsity squad, the week saw little action with their only game coming against Johnsburg on Thursday, October 13.

Perhaps knowing that their chances to play soccer were winding down, they erupted for two or three games-worth of offense on this day, totaling six scores to only one for Johnsburg.

Goals came from Kevin Kress, who had a pair, as well as Connor Rockhill, Trevor Godemann, Colin Criss, and Austin Down.

The boys have put together an admirable record of 8-5-1 and look to be in good shape as they head into Sectionals, with one regular season game (against State-ranked Hamilton) remaining before the playoffs get underway.

All eyes will be on the boys as they move forward and the sky’s the limit for them should they play to their potential.