The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Old Saybrook dethrones Morgan
MIDDLETOWN — Rivalry is a word thrown around all too often in sports, but the one between the Morgan and Old Saybrook boys soccer teams truly is one.
Morgan coach Ross Demay not only played for Old Saybrook coach Sam Barnes, he also coached with him before coming over to Morgan to build his own program. Two years ago, Old Saybrook beat Morgan in the Shoreline Conference tournament final.
Since then, the teams have met eight times, four each season. Stakes have been high in several of the meetings, none higher than Sunday with the Class S state championship on the line.
No. 6 seed Old Saybrook struck with two goals in the early stages of the second half. That was enough to upset the defending champion Huskies 2-0 at Middletown High Sunday afternoon.
“It means everything. Morgan is our rival,” Old Saybrook’s Shon Ryan said. It means everything to beat them in a state champion-
ship game and call ourselves state champions.”
It was the first state championship for the Rams (14-4-3) since 1983.
“It means the world. I’ve been coaching for 23 years. It’s my third time I’ve been to the finals (1998 and 2016 were the others),” Old Saybrook coach Sam Barnes said. “I’m from Saybrook. Saybrook is a soccer town. It’s a huge win for everyone.”
The regular season was split and the Huskies won in the league tournament semifinals for the second consecutive year. But the game that stood out before Sunday was Morgan advancing to last year’s final in penalty kicks in the semifinals.
“Every one of them, they are all here, even the seniors (from last year) are all here. It was an emotional game in the semifinals,” Barnes said.
Ryan played a part in both goals for the Rams. He scored the first one less than 5 minutes into the second half. A little more than 7 minutes later, Ryan had the corner kick that Jack Colella was able to head in.
“They probably had momentum coming into the second half,” Ryan said. “(The first goal), it put their heads down, ruined their confidence and got us going.”
Ryan said that was the first free kick he had taken this year. They are normally taken by his older brother Padraig. They both normally stand near the ball for the free kick
“I tried one in practice Saturday and hit it decent,” Shon said. “So I asked if I could take it (Sunday). (Padraig) debated, but even he said even he had a feeling (Shon would score).”
Said Morgan coach Ross Demay: “Obviously they beat us on set plays today. They got a few calls that really helped them out and eventually got them the win … In all honesty, we dominated the game as far as possession other than first the 15 minutes, all they tried to do was boot it up and take it to goal that way. In soccer, not always does the better team win
A big key to the game was Old Saybrook junior Colin Shulmeister, who was able to help keep Morgan’s David Saturno off the scoreboard. In fact, the senior had very few shot opportunities.
“I’ve played against him a bunch of times before,” Shulmeister said. “He is really crafty. If he tries to do anything, I tried to step to him and shut him down. It was really difficult trying to guard him. He is really quick.”
Said Barnes: “All Shulmeister. He didn’t give too much room.”
Old Saybrook was the only team to hold Morgan (18-3-2) scoreless — a 2-0 result back on Sept. 21. Josh Kennedy made sure that wouldn’t be the case Sunday when he scored off his own corner kick somehow in the 60th minute.
“A couple mistakes by us. We couldn’t find the second goal,” Demay said. “They showed a lot of grit and were banged up pretty good coming in. We had a few sick with a stomach virus who came out and play.”
Morgan couldn’t make good on any of the six corner kicks it had in the opening half. But it was that final one of the first half, with 1:40 left on the clock, that was the best chance created by either side in the opening half.
Old Saybrook goalkeeper Matt Rothman was headed left towards where the ball was, then dove back right to save the shot.