ONONDAGA COUNTY – Even with a couple of defeats on the ledger, the Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse team still found itself in the top seed for the Section III Class C playoffs.
But the Brothers could not escape the shadow cast by its neighbors from Jamesville-DeWitt, for the two sides will meet each other in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal at Central Square.
This happened because the no. 4 seed Red Rams – or more specifically, sophomore Sam Brazell – put together one of its best performances of the season in last Saturday’s quarterfinal round, rolling past no. 5 seed Homer 11-3.
Defensively, J-D was stellar against the 10-5 Trojans, taking charge after the Rams overcame an early 2-1 deficit to lead 6-3 by halftime and then keeping Homer off the scoreboard the entire second half.
Meanwhile, the Trojans could not do anything about Brazell, who had a part in all but one of J-D’s scoring plays, finishing with six goals and four assists.
Later that afternoon, top seed CBA scored 10 goals in the first quarter of its quarterfinal against no. 8 seed Chittenango, cruising from there to defeat the Bears 19-7.
Declan Landers scored five times to lead the Brothers, Andrew Kohlbrenner adding four goals. Dan Anderson, Dan Ludington and Phil Tranfredi had two goals apiece as Joe Papa earned a goal and three assists.
Of the three local sides playing opening-round games at home, only East Syracuse Minoa, in Class B, was ousted, the no. 4 seed Spartans beaten 10-6 by no. 5 seed Auburn.
Here, the first half proved decisive, too. ESM blanked in the opening quarter and only scoring once as the Maroons were steady and consistent, building a 7-1 margin led by Colin Tardif, who had three goals, one of them in the last seconds of the half.
Jackson Palumb scored twice early in the third period, but then the Spartans went cold again, falling behind 8-3. A pair of early fourth-quarter goals brought the margin to 8-5, but it got no closer and ESM ended its season at 10-7.
So it’s Auburn meeting West Genesee in one semifinal and Fayetteville-Manlius, the no. 2 seed, meeting no. 3 seed Watertown in the other semifinal Tuesday at Liverpool High School Stadium.
F-M gave itself a big boost going into the playoffs when, at home last Tuesday night, it got some payback on West Genesee and beat the Wildcats 9-7.
When they had met 12 days earlier in Camillus, the Hornets nearly rallied from a12-5 fourth-quarter deficit, and though it lost 12-11, F-M had gained confidence that carried over into the rematch.
The Hornets jumped out 3-0 here in the opening period, meaning it had netted nine unanswered goals on the Wildcats in a span of less than 24 minutes. WG broke that spell in the second quarter, but F-M still led, 5-3, at halftime.
As the margin grew to 7-4 by the fourth quarter, the Hornets made sure the Wildcats didn’t come back. Between them, F-M goalies Charlie Lorraine and Zach Spencer made 13 saves,
Louis Cogliandro paced the Hornets’ attack with four goals and one assist. T.J. Conley added two goals and one assist, with Robert Madden, John Angelicola and Tyler Hutcheson gaining one goal apiece.
As that went on, CBA built up big momentum for the playoffs when it it put an end to Westhill’s 12-game win streak, beating the Warriors 13-11.
That final margin didn’t reflect the way CBA controlled the game, finding success against a tough Westhill defense while surviving a wild first quarter where it seized a 6-5 advantage.
Settling down on defense, the Brothers only allowed single goals in each of the next two periods and spread its lead to 13-7, enough to withstand the Warriors’ late comeback.
Anderson scored four times, with Kohlbrenner getting three goals and two assists. Landers and Ludington each converted twice, Papa adding a goal and two assists and John Massaro also netting a goal.
