Perhaps it is time to state that the Cicero-North Syracuse boys lacrosse team has gone beyond the realm of good and could, perhaps, turn into something great.
The Northstars have won seven in a row, and by avenging its only defeat of the season in stopping the Syracuse Cougars 8-4 Thursday night at Bragman Stadium, it moved more to the forefront as bigger games, like next Friday’s showdown with West Genesee, looms ahead.
Way back on March 27, Syracuse fought off C-NS 10-8. Since then, the Northstars hadn’t tasted defeat, while the Cougars remained unbeaten, and made it into the state Class A rankings, before a 16-12 defeat to Baldwinsville that came two days before the visit to Bragman Stadium.
In the rematch, C-NS jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Nick Riccardi and Zach Debottis in the first quarter. But it got shut out for the rest of the half, allowing Syracuse to pull even, 2-2, where it stood at the break.
But everything the Northstars have worked on came together in a third-quarter blitz. It started on defense, where Jake Erickson, Matt Townsend, Zach Blake and the rest of the back line constantly harassed the Cougars’ front-line players, and Zach Sheridan worked his total to 13 saves.
On the other end, Brad Williams put C-NS ahead for good with a goal one minute into the period. Then, in a span of less than three minutes, Ryan Waldron scored twice and Dante Whitmire scored, too, and Debottis added a goal in the last minute of the period.
That 5-0 run proved decisive, for though Syracuse did try and rally in the fourth quarter, closing the gap to 7-4, Waldron sealed it with a late goal to wrap up his hat trick. Debottis had three assists to go with his pair of tallies.
To tune up for Syracuse, C-NS first had to register its sixth consecutive victory last Monday night with a 20-2 romp over the Binghamton Patriots.
Visiting from the Section IV ranks, Binghamton was quickly in trouble as C-NS led 8-0 after one quarter, steadily adding to that margin the rest of the night while still giving most of its lineup a chance to see some field time.
Williams led with four goals and three assists. Debottis matched that point total with three goals and four assists as Riccardi, Whitmire, Conner Collins, Nick Riccardi, Mike Meneilly, Brandon O’Brien and Nick Scarlata had two goals apiece. Collins added three assists and Meneilly two assists in front of Josh Townsend’s single goal.
Not only do the Northstars get to face West Genesee next week, it also visits Fayetteville-Manlius, the defending Section III Class A champions, who have struggled to a 3-4 start.
