In order for the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team to return to the state Class B championship game, it had to get through its toughest post-season examination.
Webster Thomas, the Section V champions, provided that test in Wednesday’s state semifinal at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, with the Red Rams trailing late in the first half before turning around and taming the Titans 13-9.
Head coach Jamie Archer said that tough regular-season games, including home losses to Cazenovia and Fayetteville-Manlius, gave his team crucial experience in close contests.
“These guys are comfortable in that situation,” said Archer.
Up to now, each of J-D’s five post-season games – three in the Section III playoffs, two more in the regional portion of the state tournament – were lopsided affairs, and the Rams were rewarded with a climb to the top of the state rankings.
And through much of the first quarter, J-D looked like it would do the same to Webster Thomas, racing to a 3-0 lead, and were it not for some shots off posts and other bad breaks, it may have put it away in a hurry.
Instead, the Titans hit for back-to-back goals from Trevor Ford and Pierce Currie near the end of the period and tied it, 3-3, early in the second quarter when Ford scored again.
Even when J-D regained a 4-3 lead on Griffin Cook’s goal, Webster Thomas bounced back with Trevor Ford’s third goal and a tally from Travis Ford that put the Titans in front 5-4.
That lead lasted less than a minute, Ryan Archer pulling the Rams even, and Cook returned to net a big goal 8.7 seconds before halftime. Still, J-D’s slim 6-5 edge at the break sharply contrasted the big margins it had built during the post-season so far.
To change things, said Jamie Archer, the Rams’ defense, led by Sam Mueller, Carason LaRussa and Mike Schwedes, got more physical whenever Webster Thomas had the ball, challenging each possession. That, plus some stops from goalie Dylan Fleischmann (he finished with 14 saves), would bottle up the Titans throughout the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Grayson Burns took over on the attack. He scored three of his game-high five goals in the first six minutes of the third quarter, and that, plus goals from Ryan Archer, Casey Platenik and Anthony DiGiovanni, stretched J-D’s lead to 12-6 by the time they reached the final period.
When it comes to J-D’s attack, Said Burns, “as long as we move the ball around as a team, it’s going to work”.
Webster Thomas didn’t withdraw, scoring three times in a 61-second span to cut the margin in half, to 12-9, but the Rams’ defense blanked the Titans over the last eight-plus minutes, and Burns added an insurance goal with 4:16 left.
The state final Saturday at Middletown High School is a rematch of the 2014 title game between J-D and Yorktown (Section I). The Huskers edged Shoreham-Wading River 7-6 in the other state semifinal, and now faced a Red Rams side bent on payback for its narrow 10-9 loss in that game two years ago.
“It takes a lot of grit to win a state title,” said Archer. “You have to bear down on every play.”
