ONONDAGA COUNTY – Due to what it had done throughout the latter portion of May, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse teams had put itself again in the best possible position for a Section III Class C championship.
The Red Rams’ impressive stretch from May 18 to 25 where it gave Fayetteville-Manlius its lone defeat and routed East Syracuse Minoa twice was followed by more impressive wins.
Each year, J-D gets a chance to take on West Genesee, pitting two of the area’s most storied programs, and they did so again on May 29, with the game going 15-10 in the Rams’ favor.
They were tied, 2-2, before J-D took charge in the second quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 5-2. That margin held until a high-scoring fourth quarter where the Rams nearly doubled the margin.
Johnny Keib, scoring five times, was held by three-goal hat tricks from Tanner Burns, Ethan Kesserling and Sam Brazell. Scott Reeves added a goal and Matt Keeler got an assist, JamisonMacLachlan recording 15 saves.
J-D put away Cortland 23-4 on May 27, netting 11 goals in the first quarter alone and not letting up much until it led 19-2 at halftime, the highlight an end-to-end goal by MacLachlan.
Keib and Burns both had four goals and three assists. Gannon Kessler also scored four times, with Tom Sabatino getting three goals and John Withers two goals. Brazell had one goal and one assist.
As for ESM, it entered its homestretch with a dramatic effort against Cicero-North Syracuse last Wednesday night, pulling out a 13-12 victory over the Northstars in the last seconds of regulation.
Somehow, the Spartans survived giving up seven goals in the second quarter by netting six to only trail 9-8 at halftime. Then the defense settled down, allowing ESM to inch in front 11-10 going to the final period.
Even when C-NS rallied late and it was 12-12, the Spartans kept its poise and, with 15.8 seconds left, Eric Callahan put in what proved to be the game-winning goal, his third of the night.
Trey Jones, Matt Kenney and Grady Abreu produced two goals apiece, with Jackson Palumb getting one goal and one assist. Evan deBerjeois, Dom Caruana and Logan Welch also converted, ESM overcoming a six-goal performance from the Northstars’ Mason Blakeman.
As the week neared its end, J-D met Auburn, and for a half it was quite close, the Rams only up 6-5 at the break before it put away the Maroons with seven unanswered goals in the third quarter on the way to a 17-5 victory.
Kesserling and Kessler both notched five goals, with Kesserling adding four assists. Keib wasn’t quiet, either, with three goals and three assists as Burns got two goals and two assists. Tom Sabatino and Noah Marino had the other goals.
As expected, J-D got the top seed for the Class C sectional playoffs, and a bye into the semifinals, where it would await the winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal between no. 4 seed New Hartford and no. 5 seed Indian River.
ESM, meanwhile, would have the no. 2 seed in Class B. If the Spartans beat Watertown or Whitesboro in Thursday’s semifinal, it would likely get a chance on Saturday to challenge Fayetteville-Manlius for the sectional title.
