CENTRAL NEW YORK – Though they would end up in separate classes once the Section III playoffs rolled around, there was little question that the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa boys lacrosse teams took plenty of motivation from facing one another.
So they did again last Friday night at Spartan Stadium, the two sides exchanging early runs but settling into a tense battle that wasn’t really settled until the final minutes, when the Red Rams put it away to prevail 11-7.
J-D had won the first meeting on its home turf 13-11 on April 13. Exactly one month later, the rematch threatened to go in a different direction early.
A fired-up ESM side struck often and established a 4-2 lead. Ultimately, the problem was that the Spartans could not build on it and, instead, the Rams clamped down on defense, caught up and was tied 5-5 at the break.
Throughout the rest of the night, J-D gained a few more possessions through face-offs, turnovers and ground balls and, though not explosive, did plenty enough to seize control.
Sam Brazell led the Rams with four goals. Andrew Laubenstein scored three times, with Gannon Kessler and Aidan Bates each getting two goals as assists went to Mario Streiff, Graham Kesserling and Lucas Patchen.
ESM, for its part, had Cayden Claflin match Brazell’s total of four goals, but otherwise had just two goals from Evan deBerjeois and one goal from Mike Santillo. Dan Abreu got an assist as the two goalies – Luke James for the Spartans, Ian McIntyre for the Rams – had 12 saves apiece.
Two nights earlier, J-D and ESM both had picked up quality wins, with the Spartans nearly shutting out Auburn in a 14-1 romp as the Red Rams outclassed Syracuse City 17-7.
Against Auburn, ESM jumped out to an 11-1 advantage by halftime, hardly letting up the rest of the way as Cayden Claflin found the net five times to lead the attack.
Noah Taylor got three goals, with deBerjeois and Logan Welch both earning two goals and one assist. Single goals went to Santillo and Dillon Abreu as Gavin Rinadli had an assist and ESM’s defense held Auburn to just six shots.
As that went on, J-D was steady and relentless against Syracuse, leading 8-3 by halftime and doubling that margin with Patchen scoring four times and Brazell getting three goals and an assist.
Laubenstein got two goals, with Kessler earning two assists. Kesserling, Bates, Delpha, Jonah Buff and Zach Tiffany had one goal apiece.
