A few things didn’t go right for the Cazenovia boys lacrosse team early in Saturday’s Section III Class C final against Homer at the Carrier Dome. Face-offs, normally secured, when to the other team, and the normally-sharp Lakers attack was having difficulty finding any sort of consistency.

Soon enough, though, the Lakers reminded everyone why it was undefeated, won two of the last three state titles, and has every intention of adding a third state crown in two weeks’ time.

From first-half hat tricks by Henry Mann and P.J. Brown to an aggressive, physical defense that pounced on every Trojans mistake, Cazenovia would subdue Homer 12-8, improve its record to 19-0 and earn its third sectional title in four years.

Head coach Jim Longo said he doesn’t address to his team the task of keeping a perfect season or winning championships, focusing instead on beating each team right in front of them. So far, it’s worked to perfection.

All season long, what the Lakers could count on the most was the incredible ability of Mann to dominate at the center X, as he had won more than 80 percent of his face-offs.

But in Homer’s Chris Birchenough, Mann met someone who could equal him. Birchenough won four of the five contested face-offs in the first quarter and would get 13 of 24 overall.

Cazenovia head coach Jim Longo said that opponents have started to watch more film on Mann and figured out ways to keep the ball from him, putting more pressure on wing players like Brown, Cole Willard and long-stick midfielder T.J. Connellan to pick up the ensuing ground balls.

At the same time, though, this didn’t faze the Lakers one bit.

Dean Riley’s goal late in the first quarter gave Homer a 2-1 lead. But that lead lasted all of 25 seconds before Mann answered with his second goal, and then Brown stepped in and scored with 9.1 seconds left in the period, putting Cazenovia ahead 3-2.

That goal, in particular, seemed to get the Lakers into its normal gear, for it went on a 4-0 run that covered most of the second quarter as Mann and Brown both got to three goals for the afternoon, but they were far from alone in subduing Homer.

Gaining confidence with each stop, Jay Hahn, Eli Maxwell, Mike Nourse and the rest of Cazenovia’s back line formed an effective wall with its match-up zone, shutting out the Trojans for nearly 15 minutes before Riley’s second goal cut the Lakers’ advantage to 7-3 at halftime.

Homer still made a major push in the third quarter, cutting Cazenovia’s lead to 8-6. But again, the Lakers hit on a goal in the last seconds of the period, this time from Willard, and the sophomore converted again early in the fourth period to make it 10-6.

Fittingly, it was Mann, with his fourth goal, and Brown, with his fifth goal, converting in the final minutes to make sure that Homer’s tough, resilient effort was not rewarded, the way it was two years ago when it beat these same Lakers in the 2012 sectional final.

Now the Lakers look ahead to the state Class C playoffs. In the first round of regional play, Cazenovia faces Section IV champion Chenango Forks Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.

Brown said his team needs to take better shots if it wants another state championship, but Longo’s analysis was more succinct.

“In the end, we just want to be a little bit better each game,” he said.