Jamesville-Dewitt and West Genesee both put on a display of quality boys lacrosse Saturday afternoon, but there could only be one winner in this annual battle of powerhouse programs.
And it proved to be the Red Rams, again, as it continually fought off the Wildcats’ second-half rallies to emerge victorious, 13-11. It marked the third straight year J-D has won in this series.
J-D (6-2) also handed WG (8-1) its first loss, a mere two days after a win over Oswego gave long-time Wildcat head coach Mike Messere his 748th career victory, setting a new national record.
“It’s always nice to beat them, no doubt about it,” Red Rams coach Jamie Archer said. “It’s always a measuring stick every year. This is a rivalry we’ve developed. It’s good to come out with a win.”
J-D started the quickest, taking a 3-1 lead after one quarter, but WG turned it around in the second stanza, scoring three successive goals to snare a 4-3 edge.
Red Rams attacker Jeff Edwards then scored what his coach deemed a “huge” goal to tie the game, 4-4, just before halftime.
“That got us back on track,” Edwards said.
The Rams never trailed again, but not for lack of Wildcat effort. WG shook off every punch in the gut and fought back.
When J-D turned a 5-5 third quarter game into a 9-5 contest in rapid-fire fashion, it didn’t faze the visitors, who pulled back within 9-8 minutes later.
However, J-D’s Deke Burns scored the final goal of the third quarter to make it 10-8, beginning a pattern of the teams trading goals for much of the fourth quarter. It concluded when Griffin Feiner scored the game’s final goal, a man-advantage tally with 1:27 left.
Messere said his team had to play better to topple a team of the Red Rams’ quality.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said. “We made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. We didn’t do well on the faceoffs. That hurt.
“They had a lot more possessions. We struggled on ground balls. You can’t play like that against a team of this caliber.”
The game won’t count against WG’s league record, but Messere said the memory will linger.
“It counts,” he said. “Can we turn it around? Are the lessons going to be learned? Are we going to turn around and improve from this or are you going to put your tail between your legs and fade away?
“It’s like anything else. If something goes wrong you deal with it. “Hopefully we’ll be more determined to do better.”
J-D relied on balanced scoring. Feiner led the winners with three goals. Burns, McLaren Brady, and Lucas Johnson tallied twice, while Mike Engstrom, Edwards, Jordan Evans, and Jamie McBurney had single goals.
Teddy Glesener and Tim Barber paced the Wildcats, each with three goals. Matt Schattner and Jake Darrow had two goals apiece and Ryan St. Croix found the net once. WG goalie Scott Sidnam was impressive, stopping eight shots.
To follow up the West Genesee win, J-D travels to New Hartford Tuesday and, next Saturday, again tests itself against Section V power Fairport at Hobart College in Geneva.
