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Nelson, Freeman Lead Rousing 2nd-Half Rally For Randolph Boys

ELLICOTTVILLE — Randolph fell behind 3-0 at halftime before a four-goal second half sent the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory, handing Ellicottville its first Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association East Division loss of the season.

Griffin Nelson had two goals and two assists while Cooper Freeman added a goal and two assists for Randolph, which improved to 6-3-0 overall and 3-2-0 in the league.

Sam Edwards scored the first two goals of the game for Ellicottville (5-2-1, 4-1-0), the first off an assist from EJ Doherty in the 24th minute and the second unassisted in the 30th minute.

Maddox Johnson scored the Eagles’ third goal from Aiden Harrington in the 35th minute.

“They absolutely dominated us the whole first half. We did not show up to play. Ellicottville took it to us. We were lucky to only be down 3-0,” Randolph head coach David Pihlblad said. “I challenged the kids to compete. They won 50-50 balls. We played scared and nervous. We were nervous to lose the game. I told them to go out and play hard. We changed some things formationally and went for it. The kids responded. We played phenomenal in the second half.”

Drew Hind made it 3-1 in the 46th minute off an assist from Nelson before Freeman’s 10th goal of the season made it 3-2 in the 56th minute from Nelson.

The Eagles then missed the net on a penalty kick midway through the second half that would’ve made it 4-2.

“We had a lot of momentum. We got it to 3-2 and they missed a PK with about 15 minutes left. That kind of kept us going,” Pihlblad said. “If they made that, I don’t know if we make that comeback. After they missed it, it felt meant to be that we could make the comeback.”

Nelson tied the game from Freeman in the 66th minute before scoring the winning goal, again from Freeman, in the 76th minute. Nelson now has 14 goals on the season.

“I personally challenged them at halftime and we stepped up. We went big up top and tried to take it to them,” Pihlblad said. “Griffin and Cooper did a phenomenal job of creating chances and capitalizing on their opportunities.”

Randolph had lost its last two league games to Portville and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley.

“Our league is really tough. In the top four teams, anybody can beat anybody on any night,” Pihlblad said. “I told the kids if we could pull this one off, that just opens up the league the second time through. We’re right in the mix and gave ourselves a chance to maybe do something.”

Kyle Senn made four saves for the Cardinals and Evan Bauer made five saves for the Eagles.

REYNOLDS, WILSHIRE SHINE

SALAMANCA — Alex Reynolds had a goal and two assists while Christian Wilshire had a goal and an assist as Falconer/Cassadaga Valley beat Salamanca/Cattaraugus-Little Valley 3-0 at Veterans Park.

Wilshire scored from Reynolds to give the Golden Cougars (4-4-1, 3-1-1) a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.

After halftime, Roger Markham scored from Reynolds in the 41st minute and Reynolds scored from Wilshire in the 74th minute.

The WarWolves fell to 0-8-0 overall and 0-5-0 in the league.

TABONE KEY FOR FREDONIA

FREDONIA — Sal Tabone scored a goal in each half to lead Fredonia past Olean 2-1 in West Division play at Fredonia High School.

The Huskies (0-8-0, 0-4-0) opened the scoring in the first half on a goal by Brody Frame.

Tabone tied the score at 1-1 a few minutes later for the Hillbillies (5-3-1, 3-2-0) by converting a penalty kick.

Tabone’s game-winning goal came with approximately 20 minutes remaining in the second half.

Andrew Cowan was in goal for Fredonia, which travels to play Westfield on Saturday at 10 a.m.

PORTVILLE COASTS TO WIN

PORTVILLE — A six-goal first half was all Portville needed in a 6-0 shutout of Pine Valley/Gowanda in the East Division.

Michael Cole and Cole Faulkner each scored twice while Brady German had a goal and two assists for Portville (5-3-1, 3-1-1). Bryan Randolph had a goal and an assist, and Simon Szymanski had an assist.

Pine Valley/Gowanda fell to 1-6-0 overall and 1-4-0 in the league.

RESTIVO POWERS RAIDERS

DUNKIRK — Angelo Restivo scored a pair of first-half goals to lead Jamestown past Dunkirk 5-1 in the West Division.

Noah Rivera and Restivo’s goals gave the Red Raiders a 3-0 lead before Brady Corbett scored the Marauders’ lone goal just before halftime.

After the break, Noah Burch and Restivo scored for Jamestown (3-4-0, 2-3-0). Both Lincoln Carpenter and Rivera picked up their second assists in the second half and Andres Pacheco had the fifth assist. Logan McIntosh made seven saves in net for the win.

Greg Orcutt made 18 saves for Dunkirk (1-6-0, 0-4-0).

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