On a splendid, sun-filled Saturday, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team gave another efficient demonstration of its capabilities against its neighbors from East Syracuse-Minoa.
The Red Rams handled the Spartans 16-5, the exact same score by which J-D prevailed the first time they played this season on April 19 at ESM Stadium.
That first meeting saw the Rams roar to an 8-2 lead before the first quarter was done. In the rematch, the getaway took place a bit later.
J-D did have a 5-1 lead after one period, but ESM effectively slowed things down during the second quarter and got fine work from goalie Alec Miller, who made seven saves.
Still, the Spartans could not take full advantage, thanks to a Rams defense that, anchored by Scott Firman, Jesse Evensky and Jamie McBurney, applied tough man-to-man pressure and forced ESM into turnovers.
With the score 7-2 at halftime, J-D found its higher gear, ruthlessly putting the Spartans away in a 6-0 third quarter that featured quick passes and accurate shooting.
Deke Burns, with five goals and one assist, led the way as Jordan Evans scored twice and added three assists. Griffin Feiner and McLaren Brady each had three goals as Jeff Edward, Ryan Wright and Griffin Johnson also found the net. Firman, Lucas Phillips and Adam Goss each had one assist.
On ESM’s side, five different players – Nick Capriotti, Corey Haynes, Brian Kiehl, Dan Lewis and Andrew Rosso – had the five goals. Connor McEachron, Sean Dooling and Nolan Garris added assists.
The lead-up to the game included an unusual situation last Tuesday where J-D was forced to postpone its game with Whitesboro for 24 hours due to excessive rain on the home field.
ESM, though, was on its home artificial turf, and thus able to play Cortland in a tight contest where the Spartans, with a strong late push, prevailed 9-6 to avenge a 12-6 defeat to the Purple Tigers back on April 13.
After edging into a 2-1 first-quarter lead, ESM and Cortland saw the defenses take over the rest of the half. Still up by a 3-2 margin at the break, the Spartans matched all of the Purple Tigers’ surges in the third period and maintained its slim edge.
Down the stretch, ESM got a cushion as Capriotti, with two goals and three assists, led an attack where Kiehl managed a three-goal hat trick.
Dooling also scored twice, while Haynes had one goal and one assist. Garris had the other goal as Bobby Campese earned a pair of assists and Patrick Bryant got an assist, too. Miller and D.J. MacCombie combined for seven saves.
When J-D did play Whitesboro on Wednesday, it ended 19-6, but most of that was due to the Red Rams tearing to a 17-2 halftime lead and using its reserves for a large portion of the second half.
Burns led the way with five assists to go with hiss pair of goals. Feiner had a team-best four goals. Evans had three goals and two assists, with Lucas Johnson also scoring three times. Goss and Colin Stone matched Burns’ two-goal output as Mike Engstrom and Nick Wright also converted.
