It’s true that the Fayetteville-Manlius boys lacrosse team made the short drive home from Saturday’s 9-2 victory over East Syracuse-Minoa possessing the Hall-Mercer Munze award as champions of the town of Manlius. But that didn’t mean it was totally satisfied.

For more than a half, the Hornets sputtered in the face of a relentless Spartan defense, not making its decisive move until deep into the second half, when ESM’s lack of depth finally caught up with them.

Even before the start, though, the Spartans were at a disadvantage as Garrett Smith, the team’s leading scorer, sat out for the second straight game. Without him, ESM had managed to fend off New Hartford 6-4 two nights earlier, but the Hornets, with all its talent on hand, were a far bigger obstacle.

Things evened out, though, when F-M suffered through a lackluster first half full of low-percentage shots, bad passes and low energy. ESM had something to do with it as Andrew Reichert, Matt Ehde and Cam Diedrickson worked hard on the back line to prevent scoring chances and goalie Alex Krawec was on his way to recording nine saves.

At the half, the Spartans only trailed 2-1, Sean Dooling picking up the goal as Ari Waffle and Kevin Lux had converted for F-M in the first quarter. The Hornets’ Alex Ferrara built the margin to 3-1 early in the third period, only to have Dooling answer and slice the margin to one.

ESM held up for a long time – but in a 31-second burst late in the third quarter, Jim Krizman twice made deft passes to set up Hornets goals – one by Ryan Simmons, the other by Waffle. Two minutes after that, Lux converted again, making it 6-2, and suddenly F-M was in control.

Simmons, Waffle and Sawyer Dew each converted in the fourth quarter to stretch out the margin further, and F-M’s defense, led by veterans Matt Moro, Cody Barber and Connor Chen, held ESM without a goal for the game’s last 17-plus minutes.

Prior to meeting each other, F-M and ESM both played twice, looking to improve upon fast starts – which they did, in various ways.

The Hornets, already 2-0, made it three in a row last Tuesday night by venturing east and blasting past Rome Free Academy 15-1.

Though it took a while to warm up in the sub-freezing temperatures, F-M started to get away in the second quarter, expanding a 2-0 lead with five unanswered goals in that frame. In fact, the Hornets didn’t allow RFA to get on the board until the fourth quarter, long after the starters had left.

Waffle piled up five goals and two assists. Simmons, Dew and Dan Cahill each found the net twice as Krizman, David Ondrich, Derek Andrake and Brad Holliday notched single goals. Kevin Lux, who had 10 goals in his first two games, added an assist.

In Thursday’s trip to Oswego, the Hornets expected a bit more resistance, but still played lights-out defense and shut out the Buccaneers 10-0. Nothing Oswego tried on the offensive side worked as, combined, Stefan Basile and Matt Wells made 10 saves.

F-M built most of its margin in the first half, racing ahead 8-0. Lux roared back to form, finding the net four times at Waffle added two goals. Simmons and Cahill each had two assists, while Andrake, Joe DeSantis and Scott Chase joined Simmons with single goals. Between them,

ESM’s early-season homestead continued with an impressive defensive effort last Tuesday as the Spartans shut down Whitesboro 9-2.

All through the early stages, ESM’s offense proved uneven, not even scoring in the second quarter. Still, it had a 5-0 lead through three periods as the back line kept shutting down Whitesboro and Krawec worked his way to 13 saves.

Nearly half the Spartans’ goals came in the fourth quarter. Smith scored three times, adding an assist as Bobby Campese found the net twice. Jesse Perry, Dan MacDougall, Dyson Spouse and Jacquell Cotton each had one goal as Nic Capriotti and Connor McEachron earned assists.

Two nights later (and without Smith for the first time), a tougher test came against New Hartford, but ESM was up for it, surviving an intense defensive effort on both ends.

The second quarter proved important as, from a 1-1 tie, ESM scored three times and moved ahead 4-2, never to trail again. New Hartford, slowing the game’s tempo, was within one, 5-4, with one quarter left, but ESM shut them out the rest of the way.

New Hartford took more shots – but Alex Krawec’s 10 saves kept his side ahead. Capriotti and Campese produced two goals apiece, with McEachron and Emile Frigon adding single goals.

The Hornets improved to 4-0 and will be heavily favored next Thursday at Utica Proctor, while ESM (3-1) hopes to get Smith back in the lineup for games next week against Cortland and Homer.