The players on OFA’s 10-0-2 number three state ranked Class B team had no idea what was assembling five blocks away at the Elks Club Saturday as they completed a classy 0-0 tie with seventh ranked and 12-2-2 Saranac Central.
At the Elks Club, a celebration of life for OFA’s first boys soccer coach, George “Jud” Mattison, was organized and hosted by his son, Scott Mattison, who excelled as a Blue Devil student-athlete in soccer and hockey.
Coach Mattison taught Industrial Arts at OFA from 1958 to 1996. The celebration was well attended by former players and OFA colleagues as well as long-time friends of Coach Mattison who founded the soccer program in 1969 and guided it to a quick maturity.
In 1973, the Blue Devils reached the Section 10 finals.
Saturday’s tie and the current season in which OFA has clinched the NAC Central Division title with a 7-0-1 record was a fitting tribute to Coach Mattison’s efforts to give his players an opportunity to play the sport with great passion.
His first team was manned by players who never played the sport and most had never even seen a game. But like their coach, they learned the sport very quickly.
Playing soccer for the first time at Oswego State after graduating from Altmar-Parish High School, he earned All-SUNYAC Conference honors in his second season. At his induction into the OFA-SMA Hall of Fame in 2024, it was said that “Coach Mattison considered it a cardinal sin to play the ball over the endline.”
“Jud treated us well. He took us all over the place playing in summer leagues and he put some of us to work,” said Kelley Geary.
“I remember when I was in seventh grade he would take a bunch us out to the field before his varsity practice. He brought us along,” said Gary Seymour.
“I was with him in everything he did. He was a lot of fun,” said Scott Mattison.
“I played for Jud for two years and it was a lot of fun. Great games that I will always remember,” said Steve Badlam who is the only OFA goalie to score a goal from scrimmage with a long punt which took a crazy high bounce over the head of a Madrid-Waddington goalie who left his line to meet the punt.
“My coach, Tom Bruyere, talked about Coach Mattison a lot. Telling us how he taught the game and what a great guy he was to play for,” said OFA Coach Brian Sias.
OFA 0 - Saranac 0: In Saturday’s tie, both teams followed Coach Mattison’s prime directive about keeping the ball in play. The Blue Devils and the Chiefs both valued every possession and engineered buildups from the back forward with several players involved in one touch passing sequences.
Both teams earned one-on-one opportunities in the open field but the defenders on both sides stood steadfast. Saranac finished with an 11-3 shots at goal advantage and goaltender Batty Elliott didn’t make his first save until the final minute of the second overtime.
But it was a beauty as Elliott made a leaping over-the-shoulder save to snare a close range head ball.
OFA’s Adam Rose (11 saves) made a series of clutch stops in the first overtime on a direct kick and three corner kicks and sweeper Echo Bouchey took a perfect pursuit angle to dislodge the ball from an attacker on the verge of making a clean run at the keeper.
“It was a great game and Saranac is a really good team. They have played against a couple of good Class A teams in Peru and Plattsburgh up in Section 7 lately,” said OFA Coach Brian Sias. “They might have had the best of the play but we played a lot of good defense and we had some chances which just didn’t work out. Adam Rose came up big in goal and we almost got a goal at the end on a deep header but their goalie made a great save.”
“Today’s game is what soccer is supposed to look like. Both teams played very well,” said OFA Assistant Coach Al Benda.