Four times in the last five years, the Cazenovia boys lacrosse season has ended in the state Class C championship game.
Twice, it produced titles, but the last two times it produced bitter defeats, In 2015, that meant a 9-8 loss to Cold Spring Harbor at Vestal High School, where the Lakers saw a host of last-minute shots to force overtime miss the mark.
Fittingly, the path back to the state final went through Vestal again, only this time was in the Class C regional final last Satuarday as Cazenovia met Section IV champion Maine-Endwell – another name from the Lakers’ past, if only in regional football clashes that always went in the Spartans’ favor.
Paying no attention to those past events, Cazenovia handled Maine-Endwell 16-3, setting up yet another state semifinal against Section V power Penn Yan this Wednesday that could send the Lakers to Saturday’s final at Middletown.
The regional round had two parts, with the first of them coming last Wednesday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, where Cazenovia welcomed Section X champion Canton and had yet another slow start before Jake Lewis led a resurgence that produced an 18-6 victory over the Golden Bears.
Perhaps still weary from its May 28 sectional final battle with LaFayette, the Lakers fell behind, 2-0, Canton patiently working the ball around and getting goals from Josh Huiatt and Garrett Glasgow.
It took Lewis scoring with 2:50 left in the first quarter for the Lakers to get on the board – but once it did, within two minutes it had a 4-2 lead as Derek White notched a pair of goals and Thomas Bragg converted, too, assisted by Lewis.
Cazenovia’s run got to 6-0 in the second quarter before the Golden Bears stopped it. And it was still just a two-goal margin, 6-4, before a surge late in the half as Bragg notched two more goals and Lewis, timing it right, converted right before the halftime horn.
Things got away from there, the Lakers outscoring Canton 7-1 in the third quarter as Brice Basic kept winning face-offs, leading to possession time and plenty of scoring opportunities that Cazenovia converted.
Lewis was in the middle of most of this, piling up 11 points thanks to seven assists he had to go with his four goals. White and Bragg also finished with four goals, and Cole Willard wasn’t quiet, either, finding the net three times and adding four assists. Jake Stowell got two goals and two assists and Ben Falge added a goal.
Three days later, Maine-Endwell was expected to succumb to the same Lakers assault – and did so, but only after another alarming opening act where the Spartans took a 2-0 lead, one of the goals scored when goalie Brendan Whalen had a shot glance off his stick and past the goal line.
Here, the Lakers’ breakthrough came with White hitting on back-to-back goals midway through the first quarter. Then Stowell and Lewis connected 11 seconds apart, and Cazenovia didn’t trail again.
In fact, after M-E’s Vinnie Vultaggio scored in the last minute of the opening period, the Lakers didn’t allow any more goals the rest of the way – a shutout that consumed more than 36 minutes of game time. Whalen, more than atoning for his early error, made 13 saves, and back-line players Adam Race, Jake Shaffner, T.J. Connellan and Kevin Frega shut things down further.
Meanwhile, no one got close to the 11-point effort Lewis had against Canton, but Stowell still led with four goals as Willard’s three goals and three assists included those against triple teams. John Williams joined White, Lewis and Bragg in the two-goal column. White and Lewis both earned two assists and Falge scored, too.
Now the Lakers go back to Bragman Stadium Wednesday night at 5:30 and, once more, take on Penn Yan, whom Cazenovia beat in the last three state semifinals. What’s more, a state finals rematch with Cold Spring Harbor is possible if the Seahawks defeat Pleasantville in the other semifinal at Hofstra University.
