If a program has waited 10 years to make a return to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys lacrosse tournament, what’s another 90 minutes?
Maybe that was the attitude Christian Brothers Academy adopted while waiting out the bad weather that hit in the middle of the first quarter of last Wednesday’s Class D regional game against Section IV champion Chenango Forks at Vestal High School near Binghamton.
And once things resumed, the Brothers fiddled with the Blue Devils for a while, but ultimately took charge with a second-half run that included near-perfect play on both ends as CBA prevailed by a 13-4 margin.
The six days that followed the Brothers’ tense double-overtime win over Westhill in the Section III title game gave CBA ample time to rest and refocus for a stretch where it would have to win two regional games on the road in a 72-hour span.
Chenango Forks provided the first obstacle, and then the skies turned violent after an opening sequence that included Matt Vavonese’s point-blank save on a Blue Devils shot and, seconds later, a goal from Alex Calkins that got CBA on the board.
An hour and a half later, the weather calmed down and, for a time, a double rainbow formed in the Vestal skies. More importantly, from CBA’s perspective, the delay didn’t deter its forward momentum.
Thanks to goals from Mike Matheson and Ben McCreary, the Brothers expanded its lead to 3-0. Forks absorbed those blows and pulled back within one before McCreary’s goal in the last minute of the first quarter made it 4-2, the period ending a full two hours after it started.
With no further interruptions, CBA leaned on its defense through much of the second quarter, containing the Blue Devils on most possessions. Still, Forks kept pressing and, when Sean Wiser scored with less than a minute to play in the half, it was tied, 4-4.
The Blue Devils would not score again.
It was Matheson, 18.3 seconds before intermission, who netted the game’s biggest goal. Not only did it put his team in front 5-4 at the break, it energized a CBA side which had literally taken Forks’ best shots and still had the advantage.
During the third period, CBA’s back line, led by Lynch Raby, Peyton Bowler and Greg Wells, punished the Blue Devils every time it had the ball. While that was going on, Matheson poured in his third and fourth goals, with Calkins also completing the hat trick, all of which helped the Brothers’ lead stretch to 9-4.
That dominance stretched into the fourth quarter, too. McCreary found the net twice to give him three goals overall, and help came from the likes of Augie Bonacci, Ryan McKenzie and Mike Adornato, who managed single goals as Vavonese stopped 10 of the 14 shots he faced.
Three days later, at SUNY-Canton, CBA faced St. Lawrence (Section X) in the Class D regional final. Here, there weren’t any delays – and no stopping the Brothers, either, as it poured in the goals and prevailed by a 23-8 margin.
It took less than two quarters for CBA to get to the same total of goals it had against Chenango Forks. The fact that St. Lawrence had occasional success against the Brothers’ defense only added to the urgent effort as Eli Weiss, with his face-off work, gave his team extra possessions.
Up 14-5 by halftime, the Brothers kept going as McCreary finished with five goals and five assists. Calkins also scored five times, getting two assists as Bonacci stepped up with four goals and three assists.
Preston Taylor, seeing extensive action late in the game, managed a three-goal hat trick. Adornato and Mike Matheson had two goals apiece as Bowler got a goal and assist. Lewis Kunda got two assists as Weiss and Joey Matheson earned single assists.
Now, in the state Class D semifinals Wednesday at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, CBA will face Section VI champion Akron, who beat perennial Section V power Penn Yan in double overtime in its regional final. The winner goes to St. John Fisher College in Pittsford for Saturday’s state final at 5:30 against Babylon (Section XI) or Westlake (Section I).
