BALDWINSVILLE – Apparently the Fayetteville-Manlius boys lacrosse team does not like taking a loss.
Four days after suffering its first defeat of the 2021 season, the Hornets went to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium and, by defeating Baldwinsville 17-10, took a giant step toward securing the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season championship.
F-M had won its first eight games before Jamesville-DeWitt showed up on May 21 and dominated in all phases of the game to prevail 11-3, turning around a 17-12 defeat to those same Hornets six days earlier.
Burning after this loss, F-M eagerly turned to its rematch with B’ville, who sat at 9-1 and had suffered its lone defeat on May 6 when the Hornets edged them 9-8 on Anthony DaRin’s last-second goal.
The Hornets had no intention of waiting until the final seconds to decide things this time – in fact, it arguably won the game in the first three minutes, bolting to a 3-0 lead when Ty Teelin and Isaac Frechette scored 11 seconds apart and Logan Wilkinson added goals.
All told, six different F-M players would net the first six goals, with John Angelicola, Pratt Reynolds and Connor Aspinall taking their turns before Reynolds converted six seconds after Aspinall’s goal.
In the first 90 seconds of the second quarter, Logan Wilkinson and Caden Yancey added goals, and F-M enjoyed a 9-3 edge, only to get shut out the rest of the half as the Bees tried to climb back.
Early in the third quarter, Victor Ianno and Trey Ordway converted and cut the Hornets’ lead to 9-7, but it would get no closer the rest of the way, and Reynolds had a lot to do with the getaway.
Each of F-M’s last four goals in the period were put in by Reynolds, two of them coming mere seconds after Bees conversions, and this combined production produced a 14-9 edge going to the final period, where Reynolds would add a seventh goal, a new career mark.
Aside from winning two-thirds of the game’s face-offs, Wilkinson gained two goals and two assists, while Yancey finished with three goals and three assists. Aspinall also scored twice as Matt LaCombe and Alex Duggleby combined to make nine saves.
While all this was going on, J-D followed up its impressive win over F-M by putting away East Syracuse Minoa for the second time in as many weeks, this one a 20-5 romp that featured a career-best performance from Ethan Kesserling.
Unlike their first meeting, where the game was tied in the third quarter before the Red Rams got away with eight straight goals, J-D settled matters quite early.
A sharp, consistent attack produced a 6-0 first-quarter shutout for the Rams, and even though the Spartans did get on the board in the second period, the margin grew to 14-3 by halftime.
No one on ESM’s defense could solve Kesserling, who didn’t let up until he had poured in nine goals, tacking on a pair of assists as Johnny Keib got four goals and four assists.
Sam Brazell got two goals and two assists, with Jacob Marshall also scoring twice. Tanner Burns got a goal and two assists, with Gannon Kessler and Matt Keeler both getting one goal and one assist. Goalie Jamison MacLachlan stopped 17 of ESM’s 22 shots.
