ONONDAGA COUNTY – In their respective attempts to claim Section III championships on Friday night, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse teams were both denied.
In the Hornets’ case, its reign as Class B champions was brought to a rude end at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium by an old rival, West Genesee, who put together a strong all-around effort to roll past F-M 19-7.
Later that night, at Liverpool High School Stadium, CBA put its top seed on the line against Westhill, only to have the Warriors play superb defense and get away in the second half to defeat the Brothers 12-7.
F-M and West Genesee had played twice in May, splitting those games. The latter of those two contests was won by the Hornets 9-7 in the May 17 regular-season finale, a mere 10 days before they would clash again with a sectional championship at stake.
But armed with many new plays with this game in mind, WG caused caused all kinds of confusion for F-M defenders, leading to chances and goals. On the other end, the Wildcats’ defense was just as good, its unit keeping F-M off the board for the game’s first 19-plus minutes, by which point the Wildcats already had a 7-0 advantage.
Forced away from easy shots and having to play faster than it wanted, F-M struggled on its possessions and, even when it did find the board, found itself trailing 10-3 at halftime. Then the Wildcats got four unanswered goals to open the third quarter, two of them by River Oudemool, that made it 14-3.
But then the rain, steady throughout the game’s early portion, picked up in volume, and amid the downpour F-M had its lone surge, going on a 4-0 run of its own to trim the Wildcats’ lead to 14-7.
In the opening minute of the final period, a rumble of thunder in the sky caused a 30-minute weather delay, during which time the Wildcats regrouped and, when things resumed, promptly scored three goals in 56 seconds to put the game away.
Joe Hathorn paced the Hornets with three goals. T.J. Conley had two goals and one assist, with Louis Cogliandro and Robert Madden each getting one goal and one assist. On WG’s side, Liam Burns was unstoppable, with seven goals and four assists as Oudemool, Charles Lockwood and Nolan Bellotti had three goals apiece.
On the same May 17 where F-M beat West Genesee, CBA did the same to Westhill, claiming an 11-9 decision that broke up the Warriors’ 12-game win streak.
However, Westhill had plenty of good post-season experience to draw upon, having won the sectional Class D title in 2021, and in this particular title game it would play the game at the tempo it wanted, never letting CBA attack at will.
The game stayed close throughout the first half and the Brothers only trailed 6-5 at the break. But the third quarter proved crucial, CBA containing the Warriors, but getting shut out on the other end as Westhill goalie Owen Mahar was on his way to 12 saves.
Then the Warriors pulled clear, led by Luke Gilmartin’s four goals and one assist as four others – Kyle Rosenberger, Kyle MacCaull, Emmet Starowicz and Owen Etoll – earned two goals apiece.
Only Dan Anderson and Seamus Nicholson, with two goals apiece, had multiple tallies for the Brothers, who got single goals from Declan Landers, Andrew Kohlbrenner and Dan Ludington. CBA finished its season with a 16-3 record.
