A generation of Baldwinsville boys lacrosse players had grown up never knowing the unique satisfaction that only winning a Section III Class A championship could provide.
So when the final horn sounded last Thursday night at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium and the Bees had completed an unlikely 9-8 victory over West Genesee in the sectional final, a celebration 25 years in the making played out.
A pile of players mobbed goalie Frank Delia with sticks and gloves flung to the turf. Then they picked up their championship patches and banner and dumped water on head coach Matt Wilcox and assistant Andy Lamb.
Then the players took the celebration to the fence line and into the stands to share hugs and high fives with everyone from parents to students to former players and coaches, all of them basking in a sweet, emotional moment.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted since third grade,” said Delia.
Fellow senior Ryan Gebhardt shared in the sentiment. “To finally get this is awesome,” he said. “We just played hard and believed we could win.”
The way it all happened suggested that something larger was at work. First, it was avenging the 2016 title-game defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius in the semifinals with Matt Dickman’s overtime goal, which only came after the Hornets thought it scored the game-winner in the final second of regulation.
Then, against West Genesee, the Bees were trailing by one, 8-7, when, with 7:30 to play, Dickman again found himself at the center of a disputed goal. Here, he picked up a ground ball behind the net, went to the front and tried a back-handed shot that appeared to hit off the post but, according to officials, the ball had crossed the goal line before rebounding back.
Furious at this, the normally poised Wildcats turned the ball over and, 48 seconds later, Austin Bolton beat WG goalie Luke Staudt to put his team in front. Though more than six minutes remained, that proved the game-winner.
WG would get its share of chances late. Delia made a great point-blank save with 2:30 left, and after running some clock, the Bees turned it over again in the final minute. The Wildcats had two shots fly just wide, and then a bad pass caused a turnover with less than 10 seconds to play. Delia flung the ball high in the air to make sure the remaining clock ran out.
Though Delia made his share of big stops throughout the game, he gave full credit to his defenders, led by Ben Dwyer, Kyle Pelcher and David Steria, whose zone look caused WG all kinds of problems, quite unlike the two previous meetings this season, both of them Wildcats wins.
It (the zone) just clicked with us,” said head coach Matt Wilcox. “Our guys are smart, and they bought into it.”
That defense held WG without a goal for more than 18 minutes in the first half, while Spencer Wirtheim picked up a hat trick and Gebhardt scored twice to help B’ville erase an early 2-1 deficit.
However, the Wildcats’ control of face-offs would lead to a third quarter where it shut out B’ville and took a 7-6 lead. Mike Tangredi broke a long Bees drought by finding the net early in the final period, and though Max Rosa answered two minutes later, WG would not score again.
So from a no. 4 seed, and fueled by the memories of falling just short 12 months ago, the Bees are sectional champions, and will take on Section IV champion Ithaca in the regional round Wednesday at Corning Stadium.
