It was quite a way for the Jamesville-DeWitt and Fayetteville-Manlius boys lacrosse teams to cap off the first full week of regular-season action.
The Hornets and Red Rams faced each other Thursday night, with F-M quickly erasing a big early deficit, only to get nipped at the end at J-D prevailed by a 9-8 margin.
F-M, of course, is coming off a 2014 season where it broke a 21-year sectional championship drought, edging West Genesee in the Class A final and making it all the way to the state title game before falling to East Islip.
J-D, on the other hand, is in pursuit of a seventh straight sectional title in Class B. During that time, it has won two state championships (in 2010 and 2011) and also reached the state finals each of the last two seasons, falling to Garden City in 2013 and Yorktown in 2014.
The prospect of two reigning sectional champions, who just happen to be next-door neighbors, made the game difficult to resist, and the action lived up to the hype.
During the first quarter, the Rams controlled the ball and stayed patient, converting twice, but then appeared ready to get away early in the second quarter when it put up three quick goals to stretch out to a 5-0 lead.
F-M didn’t get rattled by any of this. Instead, it started to win face-offs and blow through J-D’s defenses with two different runs of three consecutive goals, all before halftime. When Erik Badger converted, the game was a 6-6 tie going into the break.
Then the defenses took over, neither side converting in the third period despite lots of possession time for the Hornets, before John Cote’s goal early in the final period pushed F-M in front for the first time.
Again, the Rams pulled even, and another exchange of goals followed, making it 8-8 as time wound down in regulation. Then, with 25.3 seconds left, J-D’s Griffen Cook flicked it past F-M goalie Brian Charlamb, and the Hornets could not convert as time ran out. It was Cook’s only goal of the night.
J-D, as a whole, was well-balanced, Grayson Burns and Ryan Archer each scoring twice as Alex Dieroff, John Durkin, Ben Wipper and Casey Platenik joined Cook with single tallies.
Cote led both sides with three goals for the Hornets, with Dylan Taylor-Wolford finding the net twice. Erik Badger, Donovan Welsh and Griffin Cicci each found the net once, with Jeff Martin contributing an assist. Charlamb had eight saves, one less than J-D counterpart Joe Morgan.
Each team opened last Tuesday night, F-M surviving a wild, back-and-forth battle with visiting Auburn to beat the Maroons 14-13 as J-D went to New Hartford and defeated the Spartans 9-2.
Against Auburn, F-M didn’t have any problem producing goals, but its defense had difficulty getting on track, so the Hornets only led 8-7 at halftime.
And though it spread the margin to 13-10 going to the fourth quarter, F-M nearly saw Auburn force overtime, its efforts led by Jack Burgmaster, who poured in six goals, and Danny Entenmann, who added three goals and two assists.
F-M held on as Taylor-Wolford produced four goals and one assist, while Cote had three goals and one assist. Cicci and Luke Hamel both scored twice, with Tyler Papa managing a goal and two assists. Badger and Welsh both got one goal and one assist. Each of Charlamb’s 13 saves proved important.
Having seen the likes of Ryan McKee, Griffin Johnson and Griffin Feiner graduate from its attack, J-D relied on a mix of familiar and new faces to counteract New Hartford’s attempts to slow things down.
Neither team scored until the second quarter, when the Rams roared to a 4-0 lead. That margin grew to 9-0 before J-D surrendered both of the Spartans’ goals in the final period.
Archer, with four goals and one assist, led the way as Burns contributed two goals and two assists. Wipper had a goal and two assists as Cook and Anthony DiGiovanni also scored. Dieroff and Durkin picked up one assist apiece.
When F-M played Saturday against Liverpool, it was yet another one-goal game, and another defeat, as a late Hornets rally fell short in a 14-13 defeat to the Warriors.
A big surge by Liverpool late in the second quarter meant that F-M trailed, 8-5, at halftime. Over the course of the second half, the deficit grew as much as 14-9 before the Hornets made a furious late comeback attempt that fell just short.
Papa notched three goals and two assists. Welsh also found the net three times, with Badger getting two goals and two assists. Taylor-Wolford and Mac Fish also had two-goal outings. Hamel earned the other goal, with Jack Kinsella notching an assist.
Four different Liverpool players – Kendall Keahey, Antonio Rey, Matt Sala and Connor Beaty – scored three goals apiece, with Keahey adding three assists and Rey two assists. Also, Warriors goalie Kyle Halladay had a strong outing, earning 14 saves.
