The 24-year wait for the Baldwinsville boys lacrosse team to climb back to the Section III Class A summit hinged on it pulling off what it couldn’t do twice during the regular season – namely, catch and pass Fayetteville-Manlius.

During Saturday’s tense sectional final at the Carrier Dome, the top-seeded Bees indeed caught the no. 2 seed Hornets, on several occasions. But it never got the lead, and instead saw the championship dream dissipate in the final seconds of a painful 8-7 defeat.

Three different times in the second half, B’ville scored to tie F-M. Each time, the Hornets answered, never allowing the Bees the enormous psychological edge it would gain if it ever did take the lead.

When Charlie Bertrand, by far the most effective player on B’ville’s offense in this title game, blasted home a shot with 2:15 left, it was tied again, 7-7.  But in a game where face-offs between the two sides finally were even (much to the Bees’ relief), F-M’s Tommy Ryu snared the ensuing draw.

Not calling a time-out, the Hornets worked it around for more than a minute. Finally, Donovan Welsh, playing with a heavy heart after his father passed away on May 20, got to the right side and, with 33.1 seconds left, caught the Bees shifting right and, turning over his shoulder, beat B’ville goalie Riley Smith.

Still, it wasn’t over. B’ville was able to win the ensuing face-off and called time-out. With Bertrand smothered by F-M’s defenders, the ball went to Connor Smith, who shot – and Hornets goalie Ryan Boshart saved it off his helmet, the ball careening away asnd his teammates able to run out the rest of the clock.

With the familiarity that only a pair of regular-season meetings (both won by F-M) could provide, it only figured that goals were precious in the early going, with the Hornets’ Mac Fish netting the lone tally in the first nine minutes.

Then Tyler Papa and Ryan Cicci hit on goals late in the first quarter to make it 3-0. All three of the scoring plays came on shots from the right side, where the F-M attackers found a vulnerable spot and would come back to it often.

Meanwhile, on the other end, Boshart made several point-blank stops during the opening period, not allowing a goal until Bertrand converted 1:37 into the second quarter. At halftime, the Bees trailed, 5-2.

Once the third quarter started, B’ville started to find its top form, Bertrand netting a third goal and Dillon Darcangelo converting to cut the margin to one. Then Brandon Kohutanich, converting just his third goal all season, forged a 5-5 tie just before the start of the final period.

Having struggled on face-offs, F-M put Garrett Zogby on the draw – and he got the first one of the fourth quarter, leading to James Rettinger’s go-ahead goal at the 45-second mark.

Though Bertrand converted a minute later to tie it again, 6-6, the Bees could not pull in front despite another man-up opportunity. Dan Burnam, again attacking from the right side, put the Hornets back in front with 6:47 left.

For a third time, B’ville tied it with Bertrand’s goal, but again F-M had an answer, and would make it stick, its defense doing a tremendous job all game long keeping the likes of Ryan Gebhardt and Peter Fiorini from racking up points.

That final between the Bees and Hornets was set up by the events of last Thursday’s sectional semifinals at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, which provided a sharp contrast.

Rested from having a bye straight into the semifinals, the Bees took apart the no. 4 seed Syracuse Cougars 15-6 in a game long decided before the fourth quarter, while the no. 2 seed Hornets had to sweat out a 10-9 win over West Genesee all the way to the wire, though it was the first time F-M had ever beaten the Wildcats three times in a season.

Things were done between F-M and West Genesee by the time the Bees took the field against Syracuse, a team it had beaten by margins of 10-6 and 12-6 earlier this spring. Both of those games were stressful, and B’ville was interested in having more drama with a berth in the finals on the line.

Sparked by wins in the face-off X from Ryan Ingerson, the Bees rolled out to a 5-1 lead by the end of the first quarter, but didn’t stop there. During a decisive second quarter, B’ville exploited every weakness in Syracuse’s defenses and didn’t let up until it had built up an 11-1 halftime edge.

It got to 14-1 before Syracuse was able to score again, but by that point the Bees were already resting its main players and getting ready for F-M.

A four-pronged attack helped B’ville win with ease. Connor Smith scored five times, often fed by Fiorini, who got five assists. Bertrand amassed three goals and three assists as Gebhardt also scored three times.

Even long-stick midfielder Patrick Delpha got in the fun, twice firing home goals as Darcangelo,  Mitch Warren and Matt Dickman  got one goal apiece. Mike Bourdon tacked on an assist.

Amid all this B’ville got word on Thursday that it had won the Scholar-Athlete Award for boys lacrosse from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. The team had a total grade average of 96.39, best among all teams under the NYSPHSAA banner.

While that award was nice, the Bees wanted an on-field honor, too, but F-M wouldn’t let them have it.