Even an extra round of regional play did not bother the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team as it roared in the direction of a third state Class B championship in four years.
The bigger of the two obstacles in the regional phase appeared to be Saturday’s final at Union-Endicott High School against Vestal, who had crushed Horseheads 18-4 to snare the Section IV title and had put a scare into the Red Rams in last year’s regional game.
But J-D remembered that scare, and with the prolific duo of Jordan Evans and Griffin Feiner again running wild, the Rams blasted the Golden Bears in the first half and rolled to a 16-7 victory that really wasn’t as close as the final would indicate.
Given their big offensive numbers throughout the spring, Vestal knew that trying to keep Evans and Feiner contained was the key to staying in it against J-D. And the Golden Bears drew faint hope from the Rams’ shooting struggles in the opening minutes, as more than 10 shots flew off target before it got on the board.
Once J-D did score, though, it turned into a regular occurrence as it snared a 4-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and went wild with nine more tallies in the second period for a 13-1 halftime margin.
The routine rarely differed. Jeff Edwards or Griffin Johnson would win a face-off, the Rams would run into Vestal’s end of the field, Evans would set himself near the net and, at just the right moment, deposit a pass to Feiner, who would finish.
Most of the time, they were routine plays, but near the end of the half, Evans topped himself by fighting out of a triple team of Golden Bears defenders and passing again to Feiner for another goal – only this time it was the pass, not the shot, that went behind the back, a rare trick.
All told, Feiner had eight goals, giving him 88 for the season, and Evans piled up nine assists to go with his lone tally. For the season, Evans has 90 assists, plus 78 goals.
A running clock in the third quarter sped things along, J-D expanding its lead to 15-2 before Vestal made a late, futile run against the Rams’ reserves. Lucas Johnson, Griffin Johnson, Ryan Mckee, Lucas Phillips, Scott Firman and Mike Perkins each had one goal as Joe Shapiro finished with 14 saves.
When J-D ventured north to Potsdam High School for last Wednesday’s regional opener against Massena, it fully expected to dominate – and it did, smashing the Red Raiders in the first half and prevailing by a score of 22-2.
Claiming every face-off in the first quarter, the Rams never let Massena have the ball and scored at will, gaining a 9-0 edge. Even though the Red Raiders got on the board during a lopsided second quarter, it got lost in another J-D flurry (it had five goals in one 64-second stretch) as the margin grew to 19-1.
In just one half, Feiner picked up eight goals, plus an assist. Evans chimed in with four goals and five assists. Both would be on the bench in the second half as the clock ran continually and reserves played the rest of the way.
Griffin Johnson still found time to get three goals and one assist, while Justin Diamond scored twice. Firman, Conal Brady, Jason Alweis and Kevin Alkins scored, too, with Perkins, Edwards and Ryan Durkin picking up assists.
With regional play behind them, J-D now focused on Wednesday’s state semifinal at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, near Rochester, where it will face Section VI champion Hamburg. The winner of that game returns to Fisher Saturday for the state final against Niskayuna (the only team to beat J-D this season) or Garden City.
