Still with the no. 13 spot in the state Class C rankings, the Skaneateles boys lacrosse team stepped out of league play and into a brighter spotlight when it hosted unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius Saturday at Hyatt Stadium.

As it turned out, the Lakers found the state Class A no. 4-ranked Hornets far too much to handle, taking a 12-4 defeat to fall to 8-2 on the season.

“I thought we were a little tentative,” Skaneateles coach Ron Doctor said. “Each team we play, each defensive group has a different scheme and we probably didn’t adjust as quickly as we would like to on the field out there.”

Here, the Lakers’ main defensive assignment was seeking out F-M’s star attacker, Kevin Lux, who had scored 10 goals in a win over Liverpool and then got 10 more points (four goals, six assists) as the Hornets topped Auburn the night before facing Skaneateles.

It turned out that this game more resembled the Auburn effort, as Lux got five assists to go with a pair of goals, often feeding it to Kroy Arnold, who put up six goals, four of them in a row in the second half to break the game open.

Trailing 3-0 early, the Lakers got on the board during the second quarter, but after Taylor Haberstock’s goal that followed tallies from Steven Bright and Alex Brownlee, Skaneateles went dry until Erik Pola scored late in the fourth quarter, by which point F-M was out of reach. Max Smith, in goal, recorded 11 saves.

The week for the Lakers had started last Tuesday with a scare from visiting Jordan-Elbridge, who went step for step with Skaneateles until a big second half pushed the Lakers past the Eagles 15-7.

J-E made it interesting for a while, tying Skaneateles 4-4 in an active first quarter and slowing things down the rest of the half, so it was 5-5 going to the break.

Then the Lakers used its depth to increase the tempo in the third quarter, leading to a 6-2 run and a getaway. Tyler Strods again led the Skaneateles the charge, getting four goals plus an assist, a total that J-E’s Gale Thorpe would match.

But Strods had far more help on hand. Connor Gustafson scored three times, adding an assist, while Steve Bright and Jack Fabrizio each had two goals and one assist. Alex Brownlee, Ryan Higman, Jack Dawley and Taylor Haberstock notched single goals as Owen Kuhns earned an assist. Splitting time in goal, Max Smith and Alex Weiss had a combined 12 saves.

After the loss to F-M, the Lakers got a chance to rest up a bit before tough back-to-back games late this week, first against Chittenango on Thursday, and then against long-time rival Marcellus on Friday night at 7:30.