If anything in the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse program can be characterized as a “drought”, it’s that it has gone five years without a state championship.
Earning eight consecutive sectional Class B titles has given the Red Rams plenty of rounds in state tournaments, and J-D plunged into it again last week, easily working through two regional opponents to return to the state semifinals, where someone new would try and thwart the Red Rams’ main ambitions.
First, J-D met Section X champion Massena last Wednesday night at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium. Except for a brief first-quarter uprising by the Red Raiders, the game was never in serious question, and the Red Rams rolled to a 20-4 victory.
Twice in the first four minutes, Griffin Cook scored, with a Casey Platenik tally in between them. Reacting to it, Massena did cut the margin to 3-2, the only moment in the game where the Rams may have felt a bit of worry.
But that dissipated when, right after Massena’s second goal, J-D won the ensuing faceoff and Jack Mulvihill scored 10 seconds later. Platenik added a second goal, and Cook finished off his hat trick in the waning seconds of the period to make it 5-2.
What followed was a second-quarter blitz where the Rams outscored the Red Raiders 7-0. Ryan Archer scored three times in that period, with Cook tacking on a fourth goal as Joe Kiesa, Grayson Burns and Rosario Digristina all contributed goals of their own to make it 13-3 at halftime.
Pulling away, J-D saw Burns run his total to four goals in the second half. Kyle Hurley, Jai Benson and Jacob Risavi added late goals as Eric Antosh got two assists. Single assists went to Tyler McKee, Charlie Digristina, Austin Dieroff and Anthony DiGiovanni as Dylan Fleischmann and Pat Gilson combined for 10 saves.
Three days later, J-D went south, to Vestal, to take on Section IV champion Horseheads in the Class B regional final. While it didn’t match the production it had against Massena, the Red Rams still were in total control, start to finish, and beat the Blue Raiders 15-2.
Of the 36 shots taken in the first half, 28 were by J-D, a reflection on how, thanks to its tough, physical defense, it overcame a 12-8 Horseheads edge in face-offs by forcing turnovers and controlling the ball most of the way.
The Rams led, 5-0, after one period, and though the Blue Raiders got on the board in the second quarter, the margin still grew to 11-1. J-D spent the entire second half nursing its lead and, again making sure its main players did not see too much action and risk an injury.
Cook, Archer and Burns each nabbed three-goal hat tricks to account for most of the production. Archer and Burns both added a pair of assists as Andrew Barclay scored twice. Risavi, Jake Fontana, Charlie Digristina and Nick Palin had one goal apiece, Mulvihill and Anthony Digristina adding assists.
Unlike 2015, Victor isn’t waiting for J-D, having moved up to Class A. Instead, the Red Rams face another Section V squad, Webster Thomas, who upended Auburn 12-10 in the West Regional final, Wednesday at 3:30 at Bragman Stadium. The winner goes to Saturday’s state final at Middletown against Yorktown or Shoreham-Wading River.
