Avalanche, onslaught, blitzkrieg, stampede – name the colorful analogy for a one-sided sports contest, and it probably applied to what the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team did to Carthage in the first half of Saturday night’s Section III Class B championship game at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Officially, the record will show that the game lasted the usual four quarters and, once it was done, the Red Rams had beaten the Comets 23-7 to retain the sectional title for the third year in a row and run its state-best win streak to 40 games.
However, no one who watched this stunning offensive exhibition from the Rams would argue that the game was settled real early, with Carthage overwhelmed on several fronts. From domination in the face-off circle to pinpoint passing to a consistent ability to finish off any scoring chance, J-D was sensational, even by its own high standards.
“Our offense was just cooking,” said sophomore Jordan Evans, who finished with five goals and four assists, the same total as teammate Deke Burns, to lead the Rams’ ferocious effort.
In the opening minute, J-D scored three times. Two other times in the first quarter it got two goals in less than a minute. By the time that period was done, the Rams led 11-3, and thoughts already turned to whether anyone could keep J-D from repeating its state Class B title.
“I had confidence in our offense,” said head coach Jamie Archer. “But I didn’t think they would do that well.”
The whole irony of it was that, going in, the main emphasis was put on how the Rams’ imposing defense would handle the Comets’ high-octane attack.
But that was before the Rams blitzed Carthage for three goals in a 21-second span in the game’s opening minute. Tim Edwards won three straight face-offs (a trend that would continue the rest of the game), leading to goals by Evans, McLaren Brady and Alex Hatem.
Edwards said he “stayed lower than the other guy” when doing the face-offs, leading to constant success grabbing the ball and igniting the attack.
Following that initial blitz, Carthage called a time-out, but the Rams hit again a minute later, Evans feeding Deke Burns to make it 4-0, all before the Comets even had a chance to possess the ball.
And even when Robbie Strife put Carthage on the board at the 4:27 mark, Edwards answered within 15 seconds, starting another spurt where Hatem and Evans would convert again within two minutes, making it 7-1 midway through the first quarter.
It didn’t end there, either, as Justin Diamond contributed a goal to answer Nick Pirolli’s tally, and Burns hit on back-to-back goals to help J-D hit double digits.
To cap it off, in the last minute of the first quarter Evans, shadowed by two Carthage defenders in front of the net, fought through both of them and, with one arm, flung a shot past goalie Zach Anderson, the second Carthage player in the net during the day.
As an encore, J-D put in three goals 20 seconds apart midway through the second period and, by halftime, the lead grew to 18-5. Carthage tried three different players in goal, but it didn’t matter. Few high school teams could have stopped the Rams on this day.
Burns, by himself, piled up five goals and four assists in the first two periods, with Evans adding four goals and two assists.
And the only thing that kept it from getting more lopsided was a running clock in the second half, though Hatem and Brady both put in their third goals to add to the total and Evans contributed another goal and two more assists. Diamond had two goals and Drew Wanamaker added a late tally.
On Wednesday, J-D travels to Corning High School for the Class B regional against Section IV champion Vestal. If all goes to plan, the Rams hope to return to CNS June 11 to play for a fourth state championship.
“The kids have had one goal all year,” said Archer, referring to the state title quest. “And they haven’t accomplished it yet. They want the big prize.”
