CENTRAL NEW YORK – Just when it looked like the Fayetteville-Manlius boys lacrosse team was going to sink further, it rose again, at least for one evening.
The Hornets, having lost three in a row and seen Rutgers-bound senior T.J. Conley get sidelined for the rest of the season with a knee injury, showed resilience last Tuesday when it edged previously unbeaten Skaneateles 9-8 in overtime.
A wild first quarter saw the Hornets go in front 5-4, but Skaneateles dominated the rest of the half, converting three times and leading 7-5 at the break.
From there, though, F-M’s defense constantly frustrated Skaneateles, while John Angelicola and Michael Hance scored to tie it, 7-7.
Grayson Brunelle put the Lakers back in front, but the Lakers were shut out the rest of the way. Angelicola, off a feed from Rob Madden, converted with 5:12 left in the fourth quarter, his third of the game, to pull the Hornets even again.
Gaining possession in OT after a last-second stop at the end of regulation, F-M worked it around until Hance, with 1:21 left in the extra period, scored point-blank to win it.
And this led to the first of two showdowns with West Genesee Saturday afternoon, a game where the Hornets had control, only to let go of it in a 12-10 defeat to the Wildcats.
After an even start, F-M broke out of a 3-3 tie and seized a 7-4 advantage by halftime. However, the Wildcats turned it around in the third quarter, pulling even, 8-8, and then playing just as well in the final 12 minutes.
Nolan Belotti, Jack Mellen and Liam Burns led the comeback, Belotti scoring five times and Mellen getting three goals and an assist and Burns piling up five assists.
East Syracuse Minoa beat Fulton 14-4 last Tuesday behind an attack that saw Gavin Rinaldi and Logan Welch each get three-goal hat tricks. Three others – Evan deBerjeois, Noah Taylor and Cayden Claflin – earned two goals apiece, deBerjeois also getting an assist.
The Spartans then reached .500 (3-3) last Thursday when it beat Oswego 15-2, Claflin and Logan Welch both notching four goals as Claflin added three assists. Behind them, deBerjeois had a goal and two assists, with Mike Santillo, Dillon Abreu, Dan Abreu and Zach Johnson also finding the net.
But in Saturday’s game against LaFayette/Onondaga, ESM lost, 12-9, getting two goals apiece from deBerjeois, Claflin and Taylor, with Rinaldi, Santillo and Dan Abreu earning the other goals. Jameson Bucktooth, Chace Cogan and Sam McIntosh led the Lancers with three goals apiece.
A week after it beat ESM, Jamesville-DeWitt returned to action and scored 19 goals in the first half of a 23-1 romp over the Purple Tigers.
Gannon Kessler led J-D with six goals and one assist. Sam Brazell scored four times and added six assists, with Graham Kesserling and Ian Delpha adding two goals apiece and Lucas Patchen getting three assists.
However, it didn’t carry over into Saturday’s non-league game against Section V power Victor, the Blue Devils topping the Red Rams 16-11 as J-D fell to 4-2 overall.
The Rams led 3-2 early, but Victor outscored them 5-1 the rest of the half and never got caught this despite Patchen getting a career-best five goals and an assist. Brazell scored twice and added an assist, with Kessler and Mario Streiff each adding one goal and one assist.
Christian Brothers Academy, who lost a close one April 16 to St. Joseph’s (Buffalo), returned to action two nights later against Homer and fought past the Trojans 13-8.
Grabbing a 7-3 advantage by halftime, the Brothers held on from there as Andrew Kohlbrenner continually burned Homer’s defense, netting six goals and adding an assist.
Joe Papa helped out in a big way, scoring three times and getting three assists. Jack Ludington and Jack Wichmann added two goals apiece as Matt Craybas recorded 12 saves.
Then Baldwinsville, the reigning state Class A champions, visited Alibrandi Stadium on Saturday and it was tied, 2-2, through one quarter before the Bees took over in the game’s middle stages.
Outscored 9-3 in those middle two quarters, CBA lost, 14-7, as only Kohlbrenner, with five goals, produced with any consistency against the B’ville defense. Ludington and Wichmann had the other goals as Keegan Lynch paced the Bees with four goals and two assists.
