GRAND ISLAND — One year after an all-time classic of a Section VI title game and just under a month after the teams had their first regular season meeting, Lewiston-Porter and Grand Island met up once again on the pitch.
Heading into this game Lew-Port head coach Rick Sweeney said he expected a tight back and forth game with a scoreline that was closer to Grand Island’s real potential than the first time the teams played.
The Lew-Port Lancers got a 2-0 win over the Grand Island Vikings Wednesday, at Grand Island High School’s H. David Myers Athletic Complex.
The win means the Lancers have now clinched a spot in the Niagara Frontier League title game with a perfect 13-0 overall record and a 11-0 record in league play with two games to play. The win also increases their lead in the standings to three games.
But Lew-Port wasn’t looking past Grand Island to the NFL championship, to be held Wednesday at Grand Island. Nor are they going to look past its likely opponents, Lockport or Niagara Wheatfield, toward the Section VI tournament as it seeks a fourth consecutive sectional championship.
“It sets the table for us to get a step closer to it, but we know that there’s good opponents in the other division, whoever comes out of there,” Sweeney said. “This did not have the feel of a title game, in the sense that yeah we could expect a competitive match from whoever comes out on the other side, yes. But this didn’t feel like, ‘Hey if we win this, we got it.’”
When the clock hit zero and the buzzer rang out, Scully and his teammates sprinted over to their fans on the far side of the field, leaping with celebration, which the junior said was because of the season sweep and the fact that they are now one game closer to an undefeated regular season. It also guarantees them a spot in the Niagara Frontier League title game.
The win sees the Lancers get a season sweep over their NFL rivals after beating them 5-1 on Sept. 15. It is their first season sweep over the Vikings since the 2022 season. One of the biggest differences between this game and the previous one according to Sweeney was that the Vikings were playing senior midfielder Jack Pachla in a different role in this game.
“It was challenging, he had his looks and he came very close on converting some of those passes that he picks up and he gets a head of steam running down hill at the backline,” Sweeney said. “He doesn’t necessarily have to go by the defenders, he’s got the ability to shoot in front of them and put it by the defenders and the keepers and he came close a couple times. It was a lot of what we expected, we knew it was going to be an emotional battle and they would be a tough opponent.”
There was no love lost between the two teams with multiple fouls and approximately eight total yellow cards handed out. Despite that, Sweeney views the rivalry as one that is competitive but respectful.
Last season, the Vikings beat the Lancers 1-0 in double overtime of the Section VI Class A Championship game. Scully said entering into this one, he and his teammates were still thinking about that loss and concentrating on the fact that they had to clean up the mistakes that cost them that game and play this one with a complete effort.
Looking ahead, Scully and his teammates are only looking at the next game on their schedule, in an effort to not overlook any team. If the Lancers and Vikings meet up again in the playoffs, Scully’s mindset will not change, find out their weak spots, exploit them and score.
“We gotta take it one game at a time to get to that section final first,” Scully said. “We can’t overlook any team. …. We gotta take it one game at a time, stay, stack win on top of win.”