As it rose all the way to the top of the state Class B rankings, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team would continue to flourish in the face of a continual parade of high-profile opponents.
When the Red Rams traveled to Hyatt Stadium last Tuesday night to face Skaneateles, it didn’t light up the board, but J-D’s defense made sure no late heroics were required as it beat the Lakers 9-3.
In its previous two games, the Rams needed big fourth-quarter rallies against Christian Brothers Academy and Fairport to stay undefeated. Here, though, it simply got in the way of anything Skaneateles tried to establish on the offensive end.
From the second quarter onward, the Lakers managed just one goal in the face of Sam Mueller, Rosario Digristina and the rest of J-D’s back line, while goalie Dylan Fleischmann got close to a shutout, stopping 13 of the 16 shots he faced.
Only ahead 4-2 at halftime, the Rams got clear with a patient attack that saw Ryan Archer earn four assists to go with his lone goal and Charlie Digristina score tree times. Griffin Cook added two goals as Adam Fontana, Joe Kiesa and Jack Mulvihill also scored, with Tyler McKee, Matt Paul, Grayson Burns and Andrew Barclay earning assists.
The other big attraction was Saturday’s visit from West Genesee, who was going through a season far below its high standards with four defeats in its last seven games to the likes of Cazenovia, Auburn, Fayetteville-Manlius and Baldwinsville.
J-D would maintain the Wildcats’ struggles in an 11-8 victory, though it had some bumpy moments. That entire margin could get traced back to the first quarter, when the Rams bolted to a 4-1 lead, forcing WG into a chasing mode.
WG couldn’t make up ground even when it had a three-minute man advantage early in the second period due to Mulvihill having an illegal stick. Instead, J-D made it 5-1, and though Spencer McNamara answered, WG would find its deficit grow to 7-3 by halftime and 10-5 by the start of the third quarter.
From there, the Rams held on as Burns (four goals, one assist), Archer (three goals, two assists) and Cook (three goals, one assist) again proved difficult to contain. Kiesa had the other goal as just two WG players, Tyler Shoults and Conor Bartlett, would score twice against Dylan Fleischmann, who finished with 11 saves..
In between those games, J-D topped East Syracuse Minoa 14-6 on Thursday night, steadily building a 9-2 halftime edge and then pacing itself the rest of the way, knowing what kind of tough opposition lay ahead.
Still, Archer had four goals and one assist as Burns and Cook each got two goals and one assist. Andrew Barclay and Charlie Digristina also scored twice as Mueller gained a goal and two assists, with Kiesa and Eric Antosh adding assists and Kiesa also finding the net.
Meanwhile, ESM got a nice effort in goal from Andrew Steigerwald, who recorded 13 saves. On the other end, though, only Connor Smith scored twice as Derrek Madonna got a goal and two assists. Jeremy Perry had one goal and one assist as Nate Sturick and Mark Willette had the other goals.
Before it faced J-D, ESM went to LaFayette last Tuesday and took a 13-10 defeat to the Lancers, who were once 1-6 but gained its third straight victory by breaking open a close contest with a 5-1 push through the third quarter.
Trailing 12-7 with one period left, the Spartans saw its rally fall short, but still saw Connor Smith pile up five assists and Nate Jacobs score three times for a hat trick.
Sturick and Perry each had two goals as Luke Rosaschi got one goal and one assist. Josh Sauve added a goal and David Neff earned an assist as Steigerwald made 10 saves, but couldn’t stop the Lancers’ Jordyn Marchiano, who had five goals and one assist, and Devin Buckshot, who added two goals and four assists.
Just a week removed from its near-win at J-D, a much more confident CBA squad made a longer road trip, to Carthage, and put together a 10-5 victory over the Comets.
Long a traditional Class B power, Carthage entered this game at 5-3, but the Brothers jumped on them right away, leading 5-1 after one period and then continuing to play superb defense the rest of the half, leading 7-1 at the break.
Though it couldn’t keep up that pace, CBA never got caught as Ben McCreary scored four times, adding a pair of assists to lead the attack, while goalie Matt Vavonese was superb, too, stopping 12 of the 17 shots he faced.
Sam Martin and Patrick O’Brien each scored twice, with Martin adding an assist as Augie Bonacci got one goal and two assists. Alex Calkins added one goal and one assist as Lincoln McGarrity and John Mullin added assists.
Now CBA looked to beat a fellow Class C contender, Westhill, on Thursday at Alibrandi Stadium, but could not quite pull it off, falling in overtime to the Warriors 11-10.
Leading 4-2 after one period, the Brothers saw Westhill pull even, 5-5, by halftime. A tense second half followed, neither side getting away, so it would bleed into overtime, when the Warriors gained possession and earned the game-winner.
Martin, with a goal and three assists, led an attack where McGarrity scored three times, with O’Brien and Calkins getting two goals apiece. Augie Bonacci and Ben McCreary had the other goals and Vavonese made 14 saves, but Westhill saw Luke McAnaney earn four goals and one assist as Ryan Zimmerman added three goals and two assists.
CBA recovered Saturday in a trip to Buffalo, where it defeated Bishop Timon/St. Jude 13-9 by gradually getting away in the second half and improving its overall record to 6-4.
Calkins got four goals and one assist, with McCreary and McGarrity each finding the net three times as Bonacci got three assists. Martin had two goals and two assists and O’Brien added one goal and one assist.
