What the East Syracuse Minoa boys lacrosse team got in the Section III Class B playoffs was the ultimate example of a trade-off.
On the one hand, the no. 5 seed Spartans got an advantageous early draw, meaning that it went north last Wednesday and, mostly on the strength of an outlandish second-quarter surge, upended no. 4 seed Watertown by a score of 17-11.
Yet the “reward” for this victory was running right into top seed and six-time defending champion Jamesville-DeWitt in Saturday night’s semifinal at Central Square, and there the dream ended for ESM as it lost to the Red Rams 19-8.
At least ESM had that first game to smile about. Watertown, on its home field, appeared to have things in hand during the opening period, making some inroads against the Spartans’ defense and gaining a 3-1 advantage.
What followed, in the second quarter, was ESM’s best 12 minutes of the season. Winning the face-offs, racing into the Cyclones’ end and converting at will, the Spartans didn’t let up until it had gone on a 10-1 burst.
Though the game was played on even terms from there, ESM was home free, led by the double-digit points from Jeremy Perry, who scored five times and added five assists.
Joe Rosaschi netted four goals, while Kollin Diedrickson and Tyler Ott each had three goals and one assist. Nate Sturick and Andrew Messinger both scored twice as Derrek Madonna, Jeff Toole and Luke Rosaschi managed two assists apiece.
And this brought the Spartans back to J-D, who had won their regular-season meetings by margins of 17-7 (on April 14) and 19-5 (on May 2). ESM’s biggest hope for an upset lay in the need to get off to a good start against a Red Rams side that hadn’t played in 10 days.
The Spartans did manage some first-quarter production, but it got lost in a wave of J-D offense. Instead of being stale, the Rams were energized, and it quickly established a 9-3 lead by the time the period was done.
That torrid pace could not be maintained, but J-D still built up a 15-6 halftime advantage, and then spent the second half slowing things down while still adding to that margin.
Grayson Burns led the way, scoring seven times and adding three assists to get to double digits in points. Ryan Durkin earned five goals and one assist, with Griffin Cook getting three goals and one assist. Ryan Archer found the net twice and Ben Wipper got the other goal.
ESM, in defeat, got goals from six different players – Diedrickson, Madonna, Johnson, Perry, Messinger and Joe Rosaschi, Luke Rosaschi contributed three assists, with Sturck adding two assists.
As the Spartans’ season ends, J-D gets ready for Wednesday’s Class B final at the Carrier Dome, where Carthage stands in the way of a seventh consecutive sectional crown. The no. 3 seed Comets avenged a regular-season defeat to no. 2 seed New Hartford and won 14-7 in the other semifinal at Central Square.
