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More than 200 soccer games were played on Saturday at Ellery Town Park.

Everyone was off the fields by 5 p.m. as players, coaches, parents and fans from 51 youth soccer teams were headed for home.

Some left with trophies, some left with medals, but they all left with smiles, already looking forward to next year's sixth annual BAYSO Soccer Tournament.

''This is the Gus Macker of soccer,'' said Joe Hoose, a coach of two teams playing in the tournament.

Hoose has been coming to this tournament since it started and wouldn't miss it for the world. Referee Dave Saxton has also been involved with this tournament since it started.

''I remember the first year we had this,'' Saxton recalled. ''Cindy (Saxton) was looking through something at a McDonald's and saw a 3-on-3 tournament. She said, 'We should have one of these.'''

That first tournament in 2004 was planned in just 10 days. There was a lot of work to do in those 10 days, but the Saxtons pulled it off. Help from contacts like Hoose didn't hurt the expedited tournament planning either.

''This tournament is great,'' Hoose said. ''If it wasn't for Cindy Saxton, we wouldn't have this day.''

See SOCCER, Page C-2

From Page C-1

There was plenty of success by the boys and girls on the fields as well.

Top teams in the older divisions included a Fredonia soccer team named Blackwatch, which took first place in the under-17 girls division. In the Under-17 boys division, BTS from Bemus Point went 4-0 to take home their trophies after team captain Aaron Saxton guaranteed a win earlier in the week.

''He pulled a Joe Namath,'' Dave Saxton said. ''He said his team would go 4-0.''

The talk of the tournament, however, wasn't in the older divisions.

As the tournament wound down, Dave Saxton and Hoose were talking about one team in particular. Considering they mowed down three of their four opponents with 10-goal margin of victories, it's no surprise other people were talking about them either.

''Probably the best team I've seen on my fields was the Admirals, one of the 10-under teams from a suburb of Erie,'' Dave Saxton said. ''They've got one player who is one of the best kids of that age. He has all of the skills and was fun to watch.''

Captain of the Admirals, Alex Yee Law from Jamestown who is no slouch on the soccer field either, imported three players from Erie to help him win the division and walk away with trophies. Mission accomplished.

Other teams earning first-place finishes in their respective divisions were Lakeview Computers in the under-10 girls, the Screwballs in the under-12 boys, Da Bomb Squad in under-14 boys and Project Mayhem in the under-14 girls.

The BAYSO tournament is one of those tournaments, like the Gus Macker for basketball, that teams look forward to all year round.

''I run the rival club in Southwestern, but every year we cross the lake for this event,'' Hoose said. ''Three-on-three soccer is a great way to grow and work on soccer skill sets, such as passing.''

The facilities at Ellery Town Park help make this event a success every year. With concession stands permanently in place, plenty of paved parking and seemingly limitless flat land for painted soccer fields, there aren't many places like it in Chautauqua County.

''It's perfect. We're very fortunate to have this park here,'' Cindy Saxton said.

Maybe that's why teams from Erie, Bradford, Fredonia, Southwestern and Jamestown flock to the small community of Ellery every summer for a well-run soccer tournament.

The format is simple, with round-robin pool play giving every team four scheduled games throughout the day. Points are earned based on wins, ties and losses and whatever team has the most points is crowned the champion. Every participant gets an event T-shirt and all proceeds after event expenses are donated to BAYSO. It starts in the morning and it's over by 5 p.m.

''I think they like the idea of just a one-day tournament,'' Cindy Saxton said. ''After they've played four games they're usually too tired to even want to have playoffs.''