As they both continued their fine work in the early portion of the season, the Marcellus and Westhill boys lacrosse teams turned back plenty of opponents.
The Mustangs, who were 6-2 by week’s end, smashed past Manlius-Pebble 21-4 last Tuesday afternoon. Ignoring the rain, Marcellus steadily pulled away from the Trojans and had a 14-3 edge by halftime, more than enough to cruise through the rest of the contest.
Tom McNaney, with three goals and three assists, led a well-balanced attack. John Dunn and Nick Nye also managed three-goal hat tricks as Ross Filtch, Ben Powers, Andrew Henderson and Aaron Cusick got two goals apiece.
Filtch also contributed two assists, half the total of Rich Ghezzi, who had four assists to go with his lone tally. Kevin Hutchings, Harrison Cox and Matt Hutchings scored, too, with Tim O’Sullivan getting a pair of assists.
Westhill, meanwhile, dismissed Onondaga 15-7, making its getaway in the second quarter by going on a 6-1 run in the second quarter, which built a 9-3 halftime edge.
Richie Easterly kept on going, setting a career mark in points (11) as he piled up seven goals and four assists. Ryan Suddaby, with five goals and one assist, wasn’t far behind, while Ryan Zimmerman, Luke Longo and Jack Centore each had one goal and two assists. Mark Purcell added an assist.
From there, Westhill (5-2) went on to roar past Bishop Ludden 18-3 Thursday afternoon, scoring eight unanswered goals in the first quarter to seize control and pulling further away from there.
Zimmerman stepped up with five goals and one assist, with Purcell (four assists) and Dan Hodgens (three assists) both passing it to open teammates. Collin Henson had a career-best three goals, with Suddaby also scoring three times.
Helping them, Longo had two goals and three assists, while Centore also scored twice. Andrew French, Kyle Magdzuik and Joe Rainone had one goal apiece.
Marcellus, meanwhile, struggled against Tully, but still won 9-5, breaking out of an early 2-2 tie by limiting the Black Knights to a single goal in each of the last three quarters as its own attack got by with modest production.
Again, Tom McNaney scored three times, adding two assists, with Kevin Hutchings getting two goals and two assists. Filtch got two goals as Mike McNaney produced a goal and two assists and Rich Ghezzi also found the net. Jake Lilly, playing in the net, earned 10 saves.
Ludden had a better showing in last Monday’s game against Binghamton Seton Catholic (Section IV), but still lost by a score of 15-10, unable to come back after falling behind 5-2 in the first quarter.
Still, the Gaelic Knights battled to the wire, getting three-goal hat tricks from Connor Smith and Joe Spano. Mark Shattuck scored twice, while Cameron Bennett managed a goal and two assists. Brian Cizenski had the other goal.
A day later, Ludden lost, 17-6, to Chittenango, unable to recover from a first half where the Bears did whatever it wanted on the attack, amassing a 14-2 edge.
Jordan-Elbridge had its game with Cazenovia postponed for a day and moved to Chittenango’s turf, where the Eagles fell to the undefeated Lakers 18-3.
It was actually 2-2 after one period, but the second quarter decided matters as Cazenovia jumped all over J-E’s defense during an 8-1 spurt. And the Eagles could not score in the second half.
Gale Thorpe had two of his team’s three goals, and Matt Somes earned the other, Aurie Schwarting adding an assist. In goal, Noland Michels had 17 saves. Connor Cannizzaro (five goals, two assists) and Ryan Cook (three goals, three assists) paced the Lakers’ attack.
Two nights later, the Eagles went to Alibrandi Stadium, where it lost 17-11 to Christian Brothers Academy, mostly because of what it did not do in the first half.
Even as it tried to slow down CBA’s high-flying attack, J-E could not take full advantage and trailed, 7-2, at halftime. By the time the Eagles (2-4) did start finding the net with regularity, the Brothers, led by Jack Zerillo and Andrew Romagnoli (five goals each), had pulled clear.
Still, Thorpe and Aurie Schwarting both had strong showings, each of them finishing with four goals and one assist. Somes offered support with a three-goal hat trick of his own, and Michels, under constant assault, still managed 20 saves.
