Decatur Wins 1st Bayside Title in Decade

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s boys’ varsity soccer team won its first Bayside Conference championship in a decade this week, blanking Kent Island, 2-0, on Monday in the title game at Washington College.

Last week, the Seahawks had their hopes of a perfect season dashed when they fell to Bennett, 2-1, in the regular season finale. The anguish was short-lived, however, as the Seahawks had already wrapped up the Bayside South title and a trip to the conference championship game.

On Monday, Decatur got on the board early when Sunny Aroh scored with just 10 minutes into the game on an unsettled situation in front of the Buccaneers’ net after a throw-in. The score remained 1-0 throughout the rest of the first half although the Seahawks continued to apply pressure on the offensive end.

With just under 20 minutes left in the game, Decatur’s Erik Geiser got the Seahawks back on the scoreboard when he took a pass from Jason Stitely and got through a line of Kent Island defenders before firing a shot to the far post from the perimeter. Geiser’s goal gave Decatur a 2-0 lead, which is all the Seahawks would need to finish off the Buccaneers for the conference title.

The Bayside championship was the first for the Seahawks since 2002. That team went on to win the state championship, a feat the 2011 team hopes to match this year. The Seahawks earned a number-one seed in the Class 3A-East tournament when the brackets were announced this week.