So the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team has earned a shot at upending long-time power West Genesee in Friday night’s Section III Class A semifinal, though it took two days just to earn that date with the Wildcats.
A Class A quarterfinal against no. 6 seed Cicero-North Syracuse that started last Tuesday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium didn’t end until the next afternoon, with the no. 3 seed Bees shutting out the Northstars 11-0.
Bad weather was an issue throughout Central New York on Tuesday, and lightning caused a 90-minute delay to the game’s start.
Once they did get going, the Bees’ defense, anchored by the likes of Clayton Messmer, John Walker and Scott Kirchner, immediately clamped down, doing fine work in front of goalie Parker Ferrigan, who was just named to compete in the Under Armour All-American Classic on July 6 at Towson University in Baltimore.
It took goals by Zach Bulak and Steve Petrelli 10 seconds apart in the first quarter to get B’ville in front, and they both found the net again in the second period, as aid Cody Luke, as the Bees’ margin grew to 5-0 by halftime.
That’s where it stood late in the third quarter, when the bad weather returned and halted the game for good, forcing everyone to come back to Pelcher-Arcaro on Wednesday to finish it out.
And finish the Bees did, with an authoritative push as it added a goal late in the third period, and scored five more times in the final quarter to close things out.
Petrelli scored three times and added three assists, while Bulak had a team-high four goals. Luke McCaffrey managed one goal and one assist as Cody Luke got a goal and two assists. Nate Rutkowski and Matt Zandri also scored as Ferrigan stopped all 14 C-NS shots he faced.
And this leads B’ville, ironically, to C-NS’s home turf at Bragman Stadium to face West Genesee, the no. 2 seed, who due to a first-round bye will have not played in 10 days.
The Wildcats beat the Bees 9-6 earlier this month, and B’ville is bent on reversing that result and earning a trip to the Carrier Dome for next Tuesday’s sectional final against Fayetteville-Manlius or Liverpool.
