Briarcliff defeats Southampton in state Class B championship game
Southampton's Andres Bustamante, left, shields the ball from Briarcliff's Ani Thaker during the NYSPHSAA Boys Soccer Championships Class B final Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, in Middletown, N.Y. Southampton's season ended with a 3-1 loss to Briarcliff (I). Credit: Adrian Kraus
MIDDLETOWN — Sometimes how you lose is as telling as how you win.
Southampton’s boys soccer team has done a lot of the latter in 2026, going further than any team in program history. While the season will end with a 3-1 loss in the state Class B championship game to Section I’s Briarcliff, it won’t be remembered for that.
It’ll be remembered in part for its 15 seniors, including captain Max Mobius. As the final whistle blew, he walked to console Liam Collum, then picked up Cristian Sandoval before moving on to comfort a fellow team captain in goalkeeper Ewen LeGuen on Faller Field at Middletown High School Sunday.
“[Being a captain] has meant everything,” Mobius began. “It’s hard to put into words what these boys mean to me. I think we set a new precedent for Southampton soccer.”
He paused to collect himself, overwhelmed with emotion.
“It just shows how much it means,” Mobius continued. “I think this taught me a lot about my life, about never giving up. I just appreciate these boys so much.”
This season is the first since 2016 in which no Long Island public school won a boys soccer state title. It’s the first state title for Briarcliff (20-1-2).
Southampton head coach Dave Riley:
— Michael Sicoli (@Michael__Sicoli) November 15, 2026
“They rolled with every challenge and every complication, and you know they're gonna roll with the same positive outlook towards this, once they step back and see how momentous, and how huge that accomplishment was.”
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“These guys play with a ton of heart, and they left a legacy that has been 25, 50 years in the waiting,” Southampton head coach Dave Riley said. “To be state finalists and to all the trips that they made, sometimes this is the game we play. It can be a little cruel.”
Briarcliff’s Aryan Thaker opened the scoring in the 36th minute, scoring from the top of the 18-yard box shortly after the Black Horses’ fourth corner kick.
Zach Witkowski added to Briarcliff’s lead with a shot off the inside of the left post just 3:14 into the second half. JP Lockwood, who assisted Witkowski, scored the team’s third goal in the 62nd minute despite the Black Horses finishing with just five shots on goal.
“We were just as good as those guys out there today, and hats off to Briarcliff,” Riley said. “They’re well-coached, they’re well-disciplined and they had a couple breaks.”
The final 15 minutes marked the best Southampton (16-5) looked all game. Gonzalo Alvarez scored with 10:22 remaining, lifting the ball into the air with his left foot after a deflected shot from Mobius and volleying it with his right.
“We just started to click a little bit more and realize what was working,” senior captain James Garvin said. “They were on the heels a little bit. We realized they were a very physical team at the end, and they’re going to win most of the balls in the air, but unfortunately, we realized that too late.”
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
