CENTRAL NEW YORK – In the course of a 12-game win streak, the Westhill boys lacrosse team clearly established itself as a favorite to win another Section III title, only now in the Class C ranks after taking Class D honors a season ago.
Winning it, though, might require knocking off Christian Brothers Academy, who last Tuesday built a big margin through three quarters at Alibrandi Stadium and then held on to beat the Warriors 13-11.
Few teams all season had found the kind of success the Brothers did against Westhilll’s defense, especially when CBA scored six times in the first quarter alone.
Try as it could, Westhill could not put together any sustained scoring surge until the fourth quarter when, trailing 13-7, it nearly made up all the ground.
Luke Gilmartin scored four times, adding two assists. Kyle Rosenberger had two goals and two assists, with Kyle MacCaull also converting twice. Owen Etoll, Emmet Starowicz and Brian Allen had the other goals as Owen Mahar recorded eight saves.
Given the no. 2 seed in Class C, the Warriors breezed through last Saturday’s quarterfinal with no. 7 seed Indian River, winning the clash of Warrior sides 14-2.
Up 10-0 by halftime, Westhill had Gilmartin net five goals, with Starowicz and Rosenberger each netting three goals. Allen scored twice as the Warriors face New Hartford in Tuesday’s semifinal at Central Square, the winner to get CBA or Jamesville-DeWitt in the finals.
Back on Tuesday, Skaneateles traveled to Cazenovia, where in this latest Laker duel the visitors got the best of it, prevailing by a score of 9-7 to finish its regular season at 11-5.
As it turned out, the first quarter played a large role in the outcome. Skaneateles jumped out to a 4-1 advantage, and would spend the rest of the game protecting it.
Cazenovia closed within 5-3 by halftime, and through an exciting third quarter saw all of its scoring plays matched by the visiting Lakers.
Then Cazenovia only scored once in the final period as Luke Renaud worked his total to 11 saves, three more than his counterpart, Tucker Ives.
Ethan Hunt netted four goals and one assist. Jeff McCrone got three goals and one assist, with Jack Weeks converting twice as Colin Morrissey had two assists and Jack Torrey one assist. Cazenovia’s Brody Coleman gained four goals.
This helped Skaneateles gain the top seed for the Class D sectional playoffs, and it rolled past no. 8 seed Holland Patent 17-2 to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal against LaFayette at East Syracuse Minoa Stadium.
It was 11-0 by halftime, the Lakers getting four goals and two assists from Morrissey as Hunt and Sean Kerwick each got three goals and one assist. Charlie Carbonaro and Quinn Cheney both scored twice,
Marcellus took on Homer last Tuesday night, and dropping to 9-6 on the season, the Mustangs fell 12-9 to the Trojans.
Tied 3-3 through one period, Marcellus saw Homer steadily gain its edge during the second and third quarters, led by Jake Calabro, who had five goals, and Reid Partis, who had four goals and one assist.
No Mustangs player scored more than twice, something that Adam Rayfield, Donavan Fraher and Chris Doshna did. Doryn LeClair amassed four assists as Nick Rayfield and Marcus Darminio also had goals.
But once it was in the Class D sectional playoffs, Marcellus, as the no. 2 seed, was able to beat Tully/Fabius-Pompey by a score of 13-9 to earn a semifinal date against Cazenovia, who beat General Brown in overtime.
LeClair scored four times, adding an assist as Adam Rayfield had three goals and one assist. Fraher converted twice, Nick Rayfield adding a goal and two assists as Doshna, Darminio and Luke Spitzer found the net, too.
