Bolton-Wbg. boys dominate Hadley-Luzerne

LAKE LUZERNE | Firing on all cylinders, the young Bolton-Warrensburg boys soccer team torched Hadley-Luzerne 8-1 in a Sept. 26 matchup that would have been a shutout, if not for Eagles' senior striker Douglas Grant scoring a goal 28 minutes and 27 seconds into the first half. In June, the B-W team graduated seven seniors from their 2024 team staffed with All-Stars that had won three straight Adirondack League championships. This exodus left the 2025 team with merely five returning athletes and 13 young students new to varsity-level soccer. Coach Rob Thomas said he was pleased with how his 2025 players have been dedicated to learning the sport and working together to develop team chemistry. "Our players are very, very hardworking, respectful and coachable," he said. "We've been 'in' every game, most all of them had close scores — we are 'scaffolding' our learning, building step-by-step on experiences we gain in every game." Bolton-Warrensburg's scoring against Hadley-Luzerne occurred as follows: Junior striker Will Hens started the scoring with an unassisted goal 2:05 into the game, and he executed his second shot into the net, assisted by freshman halfback Ben Birkholz, about two and a half minutes later. With 11:19 expired, halfback Ben Wells, an eighth-grader, scored his first-ever varsity goal off an assist from Hens, and Birkholz kicked a shot into the net at 33:44 off a pass by junior halfback Abe Figueroa. In the second half, Figueroa scored a goal at 49 minutes and seven seconds into the game off a pass from Birkholz, and four and a half minutes later, Birkholz scored off an assist by senior fullback Andy Morehouse. At 59:04, Figueroa struck again, with Morehouse providing another assist. Nearly four minutes later, Birkholz concluded the game's scoring with his third goal — his "hat-trick" represents his first three varsity goals ever. Bolton-Warrensburg was credited with 17 shots on goal, and Eagles' goaltender Kamrin Mattison recorded 14 saves. Hadley Luzerne had three shots on goal, and B-W's sophomore goalie Maris Martin executed two saves. B-W had a 12-1 advantage over Hadley-Luzerne on corner kicks. Next up for the B-W boys soccer squad after a game Sept. 29 versus Hudson Falls and a matchup two days later with Granville, is a game at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, versus Fort Ann in Queensbury's Jenkinsville Park. At 5 p.m. Oct. 6, the B-W team has an away game versus Chatham, followed by a home game against Argyle at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 8, the next-to-last regular-season matchup. With the soccer season halfway concluded, coach Thomas said he was confident that his team would be competitive in the coming weeks. "Our team is a great group of guys," he said. "I've said that we don't want to be a 'finished product' until early October, and we're getting there now — I'm very optimistic that we will soon find our stride."

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Bolton-Wbg. boys dominate Hadley-Luzerne

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