Once again, the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team finds itself in a Section III Class A semifinal, charged with the heavy task of trying to knock the area’s resident dynasty, West Genesee, off its throne.
Just reaching the semifinals was enough of a chore for B’ville, the no. 4 seed, who had to come from behind in the second half and drag itself to overtime before eliminating no. 5 seed Cicero-North Syracuse 7-6 in last Thursday’s Class A quarterfinal at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Not long after claiming the overtime face-off, the Bees charged into position, and at the 20-second mark Steve Petrelli, who already had two assists on the day, fired a shot past C-NS goalie Bryan Schenk to win it.
That quick, decisive strike contrasted all that had taken place in regulation, which is not what the Bees had in mind, especially since it had romped past C-NS 15-4 in their regular-season meeting on April 19.
Remembering how that first game went, the Northstars slowed it down whenever possible, especially in the second quarter. Thus, the Bees rarely had the ball and, from a 2-2 deadlock, saw C-NS grab a 4-2 lead going to the break.
During the third quarter, B’ville did a better job on the face-offs, which translated into shots – and a trio of goals that pushed the Bees in front 5-4.
Despite this, C-NS stayed patient, and worked its way back even 6-6 as Mike Fiorini (three goals) and Matt Kennedy (two goals) carried the attack and Schenk kept turning away B’ville chances, finishing with 17 saves.
Parker Ferrigan, just named a first-team All-American, had his own strong game in the net as he recorded 17 saves. In front of him, Ben Paprocki and Joe Delia both scored twice, with Pat Colligan and Nate Rutkowski adding goals.
And this leads to Saturday night’s semifinal, played ironically enough at C-NS’s Bragman Stadium against West Genesee, winners of the last 10 sectional titles.
In contrast to the Bees’ struggles with C-NS, the Wildcats crushed Central Square 17-0 in its Class A playoff opener, and looks to again get rid of B’vill to set up a final on that same Bragman Stadium turf Wednesday against Liverpool or Fayetteville-Manlius.
