Mount Greylock Wraps Up North Title on Senior Night
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The game was well in hand when Mount Greylock boys soccer coach Blair Dils rested his starters on Senior Night Wednesday.
But with about 10 minutes left, he made sure all nine of his senior field players were on the field for one last hurrah.
They made the most of it.
J Bath set up Owen Politis in the 76th minute to cap a 7-0 win over Wahconah that secured the Berkshire County North Division title for the Mounties and gave Mount Greylock’s 10 seniors (keeper Sam Edge never left the field in earning the shutout) a night to remember.
“It was definitely the way that I would want to go out on my Senior Night,” Mount Greylock captain Brady Foehl said. “It was just the combination of all of us. J slipped it to Owen, and Owen finished it, and I just threw my hands up in the air. It was a great feeling.”
Foehl was one of seven different Mounties to find the back of the net on Wednesday under the lights at John J. Allen Field.
Classmates Sam Dils, Jacob Adams and Quinn Johnstadt each scored a goal, as did junior Luke Swann and sophomore Toby Foehl.
Although Mount Greylock’s Class of 2018 hopes to have a lot of games left -- including hopefully one more home game -- in the postseason, Wednesday’s game had a little extra significance for coach Blair Dils, whose son Sam is among the graduates.
“Because there’s hopefully a lot of soccer left to play, I haven’t thought about it too hard that [Sam] has maybe just a couple of games left on this field -- particularly after seeing both my boys come through the program,” Dils said. “It’s just satisfying to see them out there playing and having a great time with their friends and having success. I’m not getting too nostalgic or sentimental about it yet.”
And Sam is not the only senior that coach Dils will get sentimental about when the time comes.
“I’ve coached these guys for a long time and seen them grow up together,” he said. “They’re a fun group. They always have a great time, and it was great to see some of the guys maybe a little further down on the depth chart put the ball in the net.”
Foehl’s connection to the class goes back even further than that of his coach.
“Most of these guys have been playing together since sixth grade,” he said. “We have a great connection, and it feels great to be playing out here with them. I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else. Just a great group of guys, and I couldn’t be happier to play with them.”
Wahconah (5-13) finished the season with a rough back-to-back against Monument Mountain and Mount Greylock but, last night’s loss aside, finished the season strong, going 2-2 down the stretch. Wednesday’s bright spot was the play of senior goalkeeper Anthony Dondiego, who made a number of tough stops to limit the damage, especially in a 3-0 first half.
Mount Greylock (8-4-2) has two games left in its regular season: Saturday at Hampshire and Monday at Lenox. The Mounties go into those games and the Western Massachusetts tournament to come with one of their goals already accomplished, winning a league title.
“We talked about it yesterday, it’s something that’s always a goal for us,” Blair Dils said. “We won eight of the last nine prior to last year, and we just wanted to get back to where we feel we belong.
“It’s great to be on top of the North and not have to sweat it out down at Lenox on Monday night.”