Of all the times local lacrosse teams would meet up, none carried more intrigue – or fun – than the games between Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy, for many reasons.
Beside the neighborhood rivalry the schools share, there’s also the unique fact that 12 players on the two rosters were together on the same CBA/J-D ice hockey team that won the Section III Division II title and reached the state “Frozen Four” a month ago.
With all that as a backdrop, J-D and CBA went at it Tuesday night at Alibrandi Stadium, and though the Brothers made it stressful right to the end, the Red Rams emerged with a 10-8 victory.
Grayson Burns put J-D on the board first, only to have CBA’s Lincoln McGarrity answer at the 4:59 mark of the first quarter and then score again less than three minutes later to put his side up 2-1, only to have Burns net his second goal to square things.
Casey Platenik converted late in the period, but so did Jack Jeschke (fed by Sam Martin), so they went to the second quarter 3-3, but here the Rams threatened to get away.
A third goal from Burns was answered by Ben McCreary’s man-up tally, but Burns kept going with a fourth goal that pushed J-D ahead for keeps. Ben Wipper made it a two-goal margin, and Griffen Cook’s goal in the last seconds of the half meant that the Brothers stared at a 7-4 deficit at intermission.
Throughout the third period, CBA kept seeing shots gobbled up by J-D goalie Joe Morgan, but Martin and Jeschke did get back-to-back goals to cut the margin to one before Burns, with his fifth goal of the night, helped the Rams take an 8-6 advantage to the final period.
Ryan Durkin contributed a spectacular goal early in the fourth quarter, and Wipper followed with his second goal, coming with 8:09 left, that gave J-D its largest lead of the night, 10-6.
Still, the Brothers battled to the end. Calkins converted, and Zach Taylor found the net with 3:46 left to cut the margin to two, but J-D was able to kill off large portions of the remaining clock, and never let CBA get closer.
J-D got an even bigger victory on Thursday night, rallying from behind to beat defending Class C sectional champion Cazenovia 8-7 in an instant classic at Chittenango High School.
At one point in the second quarter, J-D trailed 4-1, but two big goals cut the deficit to 4-3 by halftime, and that momentum carried over into the third quarter, when the Rams went up 5-4.
Cazenovia tied it, 5-5, and there it stayed until the final period, when the Lakers moved in front, only to have J-D answer 23 seconds later and then, in OT, get the game-winner from Cook, his second goal of the night.
Before that, Durkin had carried the Rams’ attack, earning a three-goal hat trick plus an assist. Cook and Matt Murad had two goals apiece, with Anthony DiGiovanni getting a pair of assists. Morgan had seven saves, the same total as Lakers counterpart Brenden Whalen.
Less than 24 hours later, J-D played again, but had a far easier time of it, beating Cortland 18-6 as it shook off a bad start with a 9-1 second-quarter spurt that decided matters.
Wipper had three goals and one assist. Ryan Archer had two goals and two assists as Cook, Dieroff, DiGiovanni, Murad and Anthony Cacchione had two goals apiece. Burns, Andrew Barkley and Charlie Digristina notched single goals, and Casey Platenik contributed an assist.
Just two days removed from a loss to CBA, East Syracuse Minoa was able to bounce back in last Monday night’s game against New Hartford, winning the Spartan battle by a 13-10 margin.
Tied 2-2 after one period, ESM appeared to gain control when it outscored New Hartford 5-2 the rest of the first half. Yet the hosts hung in there, closing the gap to 9-8, and it required ESM to play a strong fourth quarter to restore the halftime margin at the end.
Derrek Madonna and Nate Sturick both burned New Hartford with four goals and one assist. Not far behind them, Tyler Ott produced a three-goal hat trick, with Joe Rosaschi notching a goal and four assists and Jeff Toole also finding the net.
Nick Drogo recorded eight saves as New Hartford’s Connor Nelson had four goals and one assist, just like Madonna and Sturick, and goalie Seth Garrett had 14 saves.
It was close again on Thursday, but ESM lost a tough 10-9 decision to Cicero-North Syracuse, nearly erasing a 7-2 halftime deficit to the Northstars with a 5-1 third-quarter surge, but seeing the rally fall inches short.
Showing a balanced attack, ESM had seven different goal-scorers. Madonna and Kollin Diedrickson each scored twice, with single goals going to Sturick, Rosaschi, Toole and Nate Jacobs. Drogo finished with nine saves as Zach Debottis paced C-NS with four goals.
