If the team I saw Monday afternoon in Bayside is the one that will show up in November, a group of skilled and versatile playmakers backed by an impressive sophomore keeper, Francis Lewis will give Martin Luther King Jr. all it can handle.
I’ve seen both teams twice, both times against a quality divisional opponent. I had MLK pegged as the overwhelming favorite after watching them dismantle Beacon, last year’s runner-up, twice, by 3-0 and 2-0 results.
Winners of six straight, Francis Lewis (8-0-1) changed my mind on Monday. It wasn’t just the dominant 3-0 final, it was the talent and precision the Patriots showed from start to finish against Bayside, a club that had played them to a two-all draw Sept. 14, a foe that had run roughshod over the rest of the division.
Lewis could’ve put up at least six goals had Commodores keeper Constantine Pougiouklidis not been brilliant and fullback Jaison Moreno not saved a pair of goals on the line. Sebastian Guenzatti, the Patriots’ all-city midfielder, hit the right post with a header.
It wasn’t just Guenzatti, who, the argument can be made, is in the conversation for Player of the Year honors, with his 11 goals and six assists. It was the play of keeper-turned-field player Sam Mignon, of active striker Ricky Rada, center midfielders Danny Bedoya and Fadil Paljevic. In their last five wins, Lewis has averaged five goals per game.
For the first time I saw a team that could match MLK in each third, who wouldn’t be in awe or overwhelmed by their enormous talent and size. Lewis has, after all, been there before, losing to the Knights in the city final two years ago, falling to them last year in the semifinals.
The difference this time around could be in net. MLK doesn’t have the 6-foot-3 Malick Faye anymore while Lewis has, in 6-foot-2 sophomore Chris Herrera, perhaps an answer for the high-flying Knights of Moriken Sangary, Sebastian Ramirez and company.
Okay, back to reality. If this matchup does come about, it will likely not happen until Nov. 8, the day of the city final. If each side wins out, as expected, they will be the top two seeds in the playoffs.
Lehman, Columbus, James Madison, Tottenville, Beacon and Stuyvesant, and so many more, will have their say before then. Heck, neither MLK of Lewis could even make it to the finals, unlikely as that may seem.
But after five weeks of soccer, after watching basically every contender, these are the two teams I would like to see that final day at LIU.
