Whatever class it gets put into, the fact remains the same – no one in Section III has beaten the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse team in the post-season since 2008. That’s nine consecutive sectional titles, but perhaps none of them were as difficult to achieve as this one.
The top-seeded Red Rams had to make a big second-half comeback to fight past no. 2 seed Homer 10-9 in Thursday night’s sectional final at Liverpool High School Stadium, erasing a four-goal deficit with a grit and toughness it didn’t have to show in either of its previous playoff games.
Yet J-D knew what to expect, since earlier in the month it faced Homer and got pushed most of the way, not leading by any kind of margin until the final minutes of a 12-8 victory.
When Griffin Cook and Joe Kiesa found the net in the sectional final’s first two minutes, J-D had a quick advantage – maybe too quick, for it relaxed long enough to allow Homer to take control by the end of the first quarter.
In fact, other than Kiesa’s goal late in the period, the Rams were shut out for the rest of the half. Homer spread its attack around and kept finding gaps in the Rams’ defense, leading to a string of goals and an 8-3 Trojans lead early in the third quarter.
Though unaccustomed to five-goal deficits, here was where all the experience J-D picked up in games against big-name foes like West Genesee, Fayetteville-Manlius and Victor started to pay off.
And it wasn’t the superstars that ignited the comeback. Instead, it was the likes of Nick Palin and John Keib netting unlikely goals following Kiesa’s second tally that cut Homer’s lead to 8-6 going to the fourth quarter, where it took just 28 seconds for Dante Yacavone to convert a man-up opportunity.
Still trailing 9-6 midway through the final period, J-D turned back to its main threats as Ryan Archer got his first goal of the night with 5:51 to play. Just 70 seconds later, Cook made two moves around Homer defenders to convert and cut the deficit to one. And it took just 69 more seconds for Andrew Barclay to fire home the tying goal.
Frustrated by its inability to clear the ball out of its own end, Homer committed a penalty, giving J-D its own man-up situation. With 1:38 left, Archer, taking a pass from the center, fired from the right side and beat Homer goalie to push the Rams in front.
Homer still could force overtime, and it pressured in the waning seconds, seeing Yacavone hit the net – the outside of the net, that is, and J-D goalie Bennett Chirco was able to hang on to it and send a long pass downfield to burn the remaining clock.
Two nights earlier, on that same Liverpool turf, J-D made short work of no. 5 seed Marcellus in the sectional Class C semifinals, again with Cook and Archer at the forefront as it put away the Mustangs 20-6.
A steady, productive first half left the Rams in front 13-3 going into intermission, but it kept going as Cook and Archer put together three-goal hat tricks, with Cook earning five assists and Archer getting two assists.
Casey Platenik also scored three times, with Kiesa earning two goals and two assists. Pat Murad, Adam Fontana and Ryan Vespi had their own two-goal outings as Jai Benson got one goal and one assist. Palin, Kyle Hurley and Jacob Risavi earned single goals. Connor Durkin added an assist.
Two nights later, J-D had secured its ninth straight state tournament appearance. Now it could go after a sixth state championship, starting with a regional game Wednesday against Section IV champion Johnson City.
