Though the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team may have felt a small sense of pride rising to the top of the state Class B rankings, it didn’t linger.
Unbeaten going into last Tuesday night’s showdown with reigning Section III Class C champion Cazenovia, the Red Rams could not replicate its overtime win over the Lakers a year ago, struggling in many aspects of the game and taking a 9-6 defeat.
“Our guys played tight all night long,” said J-D head coach Jamie Archer.
If the unofficial title of best boys lacrosse team in Central New York was on the line, the Lakers seized it with a combination of effective defense and a big star turn from Cole Willard, who put in six of Cazenovia’s nine goals.
But it didn’t start out that way.
Andrew Barclay put the Rams on the board just 18 seconds into the game, and two minutes later defender Sam Mueller made a long run from the middle of the field and beat Brenden Whalen to make it 2-0.
Soon enough, though, Willard would assert his will on J-D. Having missed on a series of shots in the opening minutes, Willard atoned by earning a hat trick before the first quarter was done, and Jake Lewis converted early in the second period to put his Lakers up 4-2.
With the game marred by penalties and missed opportunities on both sides. J-D didn’t have a goal for exactly 15 minutes, yet still pulled even, 4-4, by halftime with goals late in the second quarter from Barclay and Ryan Archer.
Still, that long drought illustrated the effective work of Cazenovia’s entire defensive unit. T.J. Connellan, Adam Race, Jake Shaffner and Chris Becker led a back line that kept two of the Rams’ top scorers, Grayson Burns and Griffin Cook, from netting a goal all night.
“We’ve been waiting for our defense to step up, and tonight they took a step forward,” said Cazenovia head coach Jim Longo.
Yet the Lakers still needed more production – and got plenty of it from Willard in a decisive stretch of the third quarter.
It was Willard’s fourth goal, at the 3:34 mark of the period, that pushed Cazenovia ahead for good, but he didn’t stop there, adding two more goals within the next 68 seconds to give him six for the night.
That proved too much to overcome. Jamie Archer said his team made too many mistakes, ranging from bad passes to face-off violations, and did not capitalize on the many chances it had to catch up during the fourth quarter, not getting closer than two goals.
About the lone saving grace was that J-D, before its game with Fayetteville-Manlius on Saturday, got a chance to let out frustration Thursday during a 21-5 romp over the Central Square Redhawks.
J-D led10-0 after just one period, with the Rams adding to that margin as Burns, in particular, made Central Square pay for his Cazenovia struggles, topping the Redhawks all by himself thanks to six goals and two assists.
Ryan Archer matched that point total, scoring four times to go with four assists. Cook, Adam Fontana, Jai Benson and Zach Duby each had two goals and one assist as Eric Antosh, Austin Dieroff, Joe Kiesa and Tyler McKee put in single goals. Kyle Hurley added an assist.
