Archive: Sports

The place to be Saturday night was at Charles O Dickens High School watching the Lansing Bobcats take on the Trumansburg Raiders under the lights on Tarbell Field. In what was billed as the game of the weekend, this one did not disappoint. Trumansburg kicked off and away we went.

Ten minutes in Lansing had its first real chance from a great penetrating cross by Captain Josh Zajac. After a pass back from striker Taylor Overton, Zajac put a long cross in behind Trumansburg's left back to where right midfielder Langston Hopkins could use his speed to beat the defender. He did just that, took a touch towards goal, but went wide left with his shot.

The game would go on as Lansing maintained much of the possession all night. At the 20 minute mark, the Raiders earned themselves a corner kick. They decided to play it short with Connor Baird dribbling it up towards the 18. He passed it across the top of the box to Raider Captain Logan Bonn, who took a touch and struck it towards goal. The ball skipped through Lansing's defense and even though keeper Jack Yahn got a hand on it, it wasn't enough to keep the ball out of the goal as Trumansburg went up 1-nil.

Lansing would respond right before the half on a corner of their own. Captain Nick Parkes took a short corner himself, but crossed the ball over everyone. Teammate Jacob Williamson, tracked the ball down before it went out and floated the ball back across to the back post where Parkes was waiting. He headed it through the legs of his marking defender and into the goal to tie the game 1-1 before half.

Going into the second half it seemed Lansing would be able to take advantage of the 1-1 score since they were dominating in both possession and shots, but 5 minutes in, a late penalty kick was called on Bobcat defender James Blair. Logan Bonn was again up to the challenge as he finished it right side. Even though Yahn dove correctly, the shot was placed above his outstretched arm giving the Raiders the lead 2-1.

Down a goal, Lansing notched the pressure up even more. Off a free kick 30 yards out at the 25 minute mark, Nick Parkes drove a knuckling ball towards goal. Keeper Richard Prosser made a fantastic save by pushing the ball into the crossbar where Taylor Overton unfortunately smashed the rebound off the uprights of the football field, not the crossbar of the goal.

Another couple of opportunities came with 10 minutes remaining for Bobcat striker Erik Goehler. On a long shot by center back Nic Whittaker, Prosser did not handle it cleanly as the ground was slick due to the evening air cooling. Goehler got to the rebound first, had an open goal, but shot it wide right. His second opportunity came when Zajac beat his man in the right corner, drove in towards goal, and crossed it. Unfortunately Goehler missed wide left this time.

After that Trumansburg parked the bus, absorbed the pressure and held off Lansing for the 2-1 upset. This will be the only time these two rivals meet during the regular season as the Trumansburg Raiders have moved to the small-school south division. 

After a tough loss to rival Trumansburg, the Bobcats looked to get back on track at home Monday against Union Springs/Port Byron. Right from the kick-off it was all Lansing, all game.


Their first goal came in on a corner kick taken short. Co-captain Josh Zajac took ball after it was touched into him by the other co-captain Nick Parkes. Zajac dribbled at the defender to make him commit to him. Once he did, Zajac flicked it back to Parkes who took a touch at the corner of the 18 and buried his shot back-post, side-netting. This was the first of four assists for Zajac.

Another assist from the captain came on another short corner. This time after getting the ball touched to him by Parkes, he dribbled, beat the defender, and put in a hard cross to the near-post. With his back to goal, striker Taylor Overton “Cruyffed” the ball, meaning he flicked it behind him, for the crafty goal.
The captain wasn’t only getting on the stat sheet under the assist column. He had a goal as well. Zajac received the ball on the right, cut the it back, dribbled hard into the middle to open himself up for a shot, and fired a left-footed laser into the low side netting.

Since the score was 6-0 at half, Coach Benji Parkes decided to remove his starters five minutes into the second half, including his keeper. Sophomores Erik Goehler and Matt Weil each had a goal, and in the waning seconds of the game, junior Quinn Paige got himself his first career goal on a pass from junior Jason Littlefair to end the rout at 11-0.

The Marathon Olympians hosted the Lansing Bobcats Wednesdayday on a warm sunny afternoon. Coming into the game the Olympians were undefeated, ranked 6th in the state in Class D. Lansing looked to put an end to that and did so early.

The Bobcats took the kickoff down the left side of the field where center midfielder Jacob Williamson crossed the ball on the ground to co-captain Nick Parkes. With no one pressing him, Parkes to one touch and hit a low strike across the face of goal, passing the keeper’s outstretched arm, off the left post and in. 40 seconds into the game Lansing was up 1-0.


Halfway through the first half the Bobcats would double their lead. Coming off a corner by Parkes, the ball kicked around before a flurry of shots that would eventually end up in the net. The first shot was by the other captain Josh Zajac. His was saved, but striker Taylor Overton was there to try and clean up the mess. His toe-poke was also saved by Marathon keeper Kenyon DePuy. Finally center back Matt Weil was able to get the second rebound and smashed it home for his first goal of the year.

The score would stay 2-0 till the end even though the Bobcats had a few other chances that could’ve resulted in a larger margin of victory. According to assistant coach Brian Streb, who does the stats for each game, he has noticed that Lansing has outshot opponents heavily in games, but goals have been at a premium at times.

Lansing will finish the week up against Southern Cayuga at home on Friday at 4:30pm. The Chiefs come in with a record of four wins and one loss to Marathon.

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