BALDWINSVILLE – All through the 22-plus months that it has stood atop the Section III Class A ranks, the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team has waited to see if anyone had caught up to them.

Missing the entire 2020 season due to COVID-19 denied the Bees’ senior class a chance to go beyond a trip to the state Class A semifinals, and even this year, as play resumes, all B’ville can earn is a repeat sectional title.

Still, the chase has begun, and B’ville made anemphatic statement when it hosted Liverpool last Tuesday night in its long-awaited oepner at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.

The Bees topped the Warriors 14-4, going through some uneven play in the early going, but cranking up its defense in the second half, shutting out Liverpool in the last two quarters.

Meanwhile, a 7-4 margin was steadily built upon with Keegan Lynch the primary architect, Lynch topping the Warriors by himself by earning five goals and adding an assist.

Other than that, the Bees were well-balanced, Mike Marsallo and Jacob Czyz each scoring twice as Lucas Hoskin and Victor Ianno each had a goal and two assists.

Ryan Hollenbeck finished with one goal and one assist, with Trey Ordway and Colin Socker getting the other goals. Cooper Foote finished with six saves.

A bigger challenged appeared to loom Thursday against reigning Class C sectional champion Jamesville-DeWitt, but the Bees were quite ready for it, playing superb defense throughout an 11-6 victory over the Red Rams.

It helped, no doubt, that this was J-D’s opener, but B’ville kept the Rams uncomfortable whenever it had the ball, limiting the visiting Rams to just one goal in each of the first three quarters.

Meanwhile, the Bees were steady and patient on the other end, doing enough to build an 8-3 advantage and then matching J-D’s belated fourth-quarter surge.

Socker and Luke Hoskin both burned the Rams for three-goal hat tricks, Hoskin adding an assist as Marsallo scored twice.

Hollenbeck, Ordway and Carson Dyl also picked up goals, with Lynch and Colin Doyle earning assists and Foote turning away 11 of J-D’s 17 direct shots.

All this leads to quite a week of games in the first full week of May as B’ville hosts West Genesee on Tuesday, travels Thursday to Fayetteville-Manlius and Saturday to Christian Brothers Academy