In the opener, the defending Tri-Valley East champion Patriots defeated the host Panthers, 7-0, and in Saturday’s championship game beat Davenport, 6-1. Both teams have won Section Four Class D titles in the past few seasons.

``It was a total team effort,’’ said CV-S head coach Terri Adams. ``People might look at it like an offensive explosion, but we had two halfbacks (Jake Hanlon and Spencer Staley) score and really our mentality is that our offense starts with our defense.’’

The Patriots had big second halves in both games, scoring six of their seven goals after intermission against Edmeston, and four of their six goals in the second half against Davenport.

Senior Jason Guernsey, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scored two goals early in the second half against Edmeston, and Brian Sutton, Jon Odbert, Mike Cagganello and Jordan Carter all scored as well. Odbert scored the lone first goal on an assist from Guernsey, and also assisted Sutton’s goal. Jordan Carter assisted Guernsey’s second goal.

Senior Anthony Brant earned the shutout in his first varsity start in goal.

In the championship game, Guernsey scored the first goal off an assist from Odbert, and Staley scored another first half goal when his crossing pass bounced off the head of a defender and into the net as the Patriots held a 2-1 halftime advantage.

Odbert and Staley were both named to the all-tournament team.

After thunder delayed the start of the second half, CV-S provided the lightning when play resumed, as Guernsey, Odbert, Hanlon and Dillon Clements, who moved to Cherry Valley from New Zealand last year, all scored goals. Guernsey added two assists and Shawn Sheldon one for CV-S, which out shot Davenport 30-4.

``We were playing our short passing game which kept us fresh and made us hard to defend,’’ Adams said.

CV-S finished 13-4-2 a year ago, and played in their first Tri-Valley Championship game since 1991, losing to Laurens 2-0.

``We hope to improve this year, but our goal is to focus on each game one at a time and not look ahead,’’ Adams said. ``We have good depth and flexibility on this team, and a nice mix of returning and new players.’’

Guernsey, a three-year starter and first team Tri-Valley All Star a year ago, set school records for both goals and assists last season, scoring five against Milford in the division clincher late in the year.

While he has four more goals and three assists in the first two games, Adams said she expects the scoring load to be more widespread this year.

``We had five different players score in each game of the tournament,’’ she said. ``That’s the kind of balance I’m looking for, and it also makes us very hard to defend.’’

Stopper Mike Fassett and Guernsey are the co-captains of this year’s team, which travels to Morris Friday at 4:30 in the first league game of the season and then hosts Schenevus Tuesday.

CV-S will host the annual Sports Booster Club Tournament on Sept. 8 and 9, with the Patriots again facing Morris in the first round at 6 p.m., and Richfield Springs and Sharon Springs meeting in the other first round game at 3:30 p.m. Friday. The final will be 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with the consolation slated for 5:30 p.m.

``We’re off to a good start, and hopefully we can keep it going,’’ Adams said.

CV-S hosts Milford Sept. 11 and Laurens Sept. 17 in a rematch of last year’s T-V title game.