His close-cropped pink hair gave him away.

And once the Section VI Class AAA championship soccer game started?

Well, it was hard to take your eyes off him then, too.

The junior forward tallied four first-half goals, including three in a row during a 14-minute span, to send No. 1 Lancaster to an 8-1 victory over No. 4 Jamestown.

Jamestown’s Benjamin Deford (9) makes a play on the ball during Saturday’s Section VI Class AAA boys soccer championship game against Lancaster at West Seneca East High School. P-J photo by Tim Frank

The win, the Legends’ 15th in 17 outings this season and their second straight against the Red & Green in a sectional final, advances them into the Far West Regional this Saturday at Geneseo High School against a team from Section V.

Jamestown, meanwhile, ends its season 6-12-1.

There was little doubt about the outcome. Wenk scored at the five-minute mark of the first half, assisted by Declan Sengbusch and Lancaster was off and running.

Brandon Nowak followed with a goal seven minutes later, also assisted by Sengbusch, and then Wenk went back to back to back on assists from Mitchell Nawojski, Brandon Nowak and Liam Gladstone respectively to give the Legends a five-goal advantage by the 36th minute.

“Obviously, (Wenk) is a phenomenal player and we had trouble shutting him down,” Jamestown coach Bonnie Schnars said. “Once he scored, that was it. It gave them every bit of momentum that they needed.”

Anthony Sirianni, assisted by Nikola Nikolov, found the back of the net two minutes later, pushing Lancaster’s lead to 6-0 at halftime. Noah Okeke (Sirianni with the helper) and Liam Rautenstrauch (unassisted) tallied second-half goals for the winners.

See JAMESTOWN, Page B2

Jamestown

From Page B1

The Red & Green, which lost 4-0 to the Legends in last year’s championship game, avoided the shutout when senior Lincoln Carpenter’s free kick at the 66th minute found the back of the net.

“He’s such a great kid,” Schnars said of Carpenter. “He played every minute of this game, and he’s pretty much played every minute of every game this season. He lives and breathes soccer. I feel bad we couldn’t bring home a blue patch for him. If there’s anybody that’s earned it, it’s him.”

Junior Evan Maloney was in goal for Jamestown and was credited with eight saves.

“The other night (in a 2-1 semifinal victory over Hutch Tech/Culinary Arts/Emerson), he won the game for us,” Schnars said. “I’m excited because we’ll have him back next year.”

And when combined with a host of other returnees, the future appears bright for the Red & Green.

“We have got a solid group of boys coming back, so the next couple years are going to be different for soccer here,” Schnars said.

NOTES: Carpenter and Okeke were selected the Character Athletes of the Game.