The move in 2017 from three to four state classifications for boys lacrosse created the possibility that two reigning state champions could face each other, perhaps for the highest possible stakes.
That’s what came to pass Saturday at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford when Jamesville-DeWitt met Cold Spring Harbor with the state Class C championship on the line. And it was the Seahawks getting the best of it, overcoming the Red Rams’ fourth-quarter lead to prevail 11-9.
CSH had won the last two Class C state titles, and were undefeated this spring. J-D, who won it all in Class B a year ago, had, other than a close Section III final against Homer, blasted through every other post-season opponent in the sectional and state tournaments.
With all of the anticipation, the Rams got off to a near-perfect start. Joe Kiesa scored just 58 seconds into the game, and with Nick Palin, Jake Socia and Tom Edson offering back-line protection to goalie Bennett Chirco, J-D would keep the Seahawks off the board the entire first quarter.
That defense gave the Rams time to get its attack going, and with Jack Mulvihill and Griffin Cook adding goals, J-D led 3-0 going to the second period, where CSH finally got on the board with IanLiviano’s goal, only to have Mulvihill and Casey Platenik convert and stretch the lead to 5-1.
What happened in the waning minutes of the first half turned the game around. Taylor Strough’s back-to-back goals aroused the CSH attack, and another goal by Teddy Bentley cut the margin to 5-4, where it stood at halftime.
Having absorbed the best the Rams could throw at them, the Seahawks tied it, 5-5, when Laviano converted less than a minute into the third quarter. Then Ryan Archer, held without a goal in the first half, struck twice, and with a Matt Liccardi goal in between, J-D took a 7-6 advantage, and doubled that lead on Adam Fontana’s goal in the opening minute of the final period.
Intent on a state championship three-peat, the Seahawks broke through J-D’s defenses for three goals in a 90-second span. The first two by Strough (who was named tournament MVP) tied it, and the third one, by Liccardi with 9:33 left, put CSH in front for the first time, 9-8. Frustrated, J-D picked up a pair of penalties, and CSH answered with Kane Jacklitch scoring twice 41 seconds apart midway through the quarter.
Now J-D had to try and stages its own comeback, but all it could muster down the stretch was Fontana’s goal with 3:52 left. The Seahawks defense punished Archer, Cook and Kiesa in a way few other opponents could accomplish all season.
So the Red Rams were denied a sixth state title and fifth in 11 years, and now it must face the departure of Archer, Palin, Platenik, Socia, Edson, Chirco, Mulvhill, Fontana and Andrew Barclay, plus the likes o Jai Benson and Jacob Risavi. As a whole, they’ll be tough to replace.
