Without a lot of stress, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team moved to the brink of an eighth consecutive Section III Class B championship.
The playoff run began with J-D hosting no. 9 seed Fulton in last Tuesday’s sectional quarterfinal. This one was decided early as a first-half deluge of goals led to a 22-2 romp over the Red Raiders.
Other than surrendering a first-quarter goal, little went wrong for the Rams as it worked its way to a 15-1 halftime lead, with Ryan Archer getting four goals and two assists and Griffin Cook supplying three goals and three assists.
Joe Kiesa also scored three times, with Tyler McKee getting four assists. Eric Antosh had two goals and three assists as Jacob Rivasi also scored twice. Grayson Burns was limited to a single goal as Casey Platenik and Adam Fontana each got one goal and assist. Jai Benson, Kyle Hurley and Matt Paul had one goal apiece.
In the sectional semifinals on Thursday at Central Square, J-D met no. 4 seed New Hartford, who had claimed a 13-11 thriller with its fellow Spartans from East Syracuse Minoa to get this far.
Unimpressed by this, the Red Rams routed New Hartford 18-5, again unleashing the duo of Cook and Archer on the opposition as Cook finished with five goals and two assists and Archer found the net four times, adding an assist.
In support, Burns had two goals and one assist, with Platenik also scoring twice. Jack Mulvihill had two assists as Kiesa, Fontana, Pat Murad, Rosario Digristina and Zach Duby notched single goals. Assists went to Benson, Risavi and Anthony DiGiovanni.
Now J-D would await a highly-anticipated sectional final Saturday night at the Carrier Dome against no. 2 seed Auburn, who fought off Carthage 14-11 in the other semifinal. Game time is 8 p.m.
New Hartford’s battle with ESM was tight from start to finish. Trailing 3-2 after one period, ESM tied it, 6-6, by halftime, but New Hartford made the pivotal run in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 4-2 and then trading goals down the stretch, but staying in front.
Nate Sturck, with four goals, and Nate Jacobs, with three goals, led ESM’s efforts. Connor Smith had two goals and one assist as Derrek Madonna got four assists.
Luke Rosaschi had one goal and one assist and Alex Regan also converted. Mark Willette got two assists and David Neff one assist. Andrew Steigerwald made 15 saves, yet couldn’t keep everything out as Dan Torres led New Hartford with five goals and one assists.
Moving to the Class C sectional playoffs, no. 5 seed Christian Brothers Academy could not make it past the quarterfinal round, where it fell, 13-8, to Skaneateles.
This was the same Lakers side that had pummeled the Brothers 15-7 less than two weeks earlier. Now, on the same Hyatt Stadium turf, CBA did its best to avoid a similar blowout, but paid the price for a third-quarter defensive lapse.
During the second quarter, the Brothers nearly overcame a 4-1 deficit, shutting out Skaneateles and moving within one, 4-3, but the Lakers countered by opening the third period on a 3-0 run and later using a 5-0 spurt to extend to a 13-4 lead.
Battling to the end, CBA doubled its total in the waning minutes, seeing Lincoln McGarrity earn a three-goal hat trick as Ben McCreary, Sam Martin and Alex Calkins each got one goal and one assist. Patrick O’Brien and Jace Whelan also scored as Matt Vavonese, with 14 saves, had a strong effort in the net.
However, the Lakers’ top line proved too much to handle. Reggie Buell amassed three of his four goals in the second half and tacked on three assists, while Sam Duggan and Jack VanSlyke got three goals apiece. CBA’s season ended with a 10-7 record.
