LIVERPOOL – All around them, the Marcellus boys lacrosse program had to watch, for decades, as neighbors like West Genesee, Skaneateles and Westhill brought home a steady parade of Section III championships.
Now, at last, it’s the Mustangs who can claim a title of its own.
On a hot Wednesday afternoon at Liverpool High School Stadium, Marcellus pulled away in the second half and defeated General Brown 16-11 to snare the sectional Class D crown, capping off the Mustangs’ recovery from a slide late in the regular season.
Having started 12-0, Marcellus then lost three in a row, costing it the top sectional playoff seed. But it got going just before the playoffs, then ousted defending champion LaFayette/Onondaga 12-9 in the semifinals.
Then it watched top seed Skaneateles get stunned by General Brown in the other semifinal, and the Lions were out to prove, against the Mustangs, that it wasn’t a fluke.
After Marcellus jumped out to a 3-0 lead, GB went on a 6-1 run to go in front by the end of the first quarter, a run that the Mustangs absorbed – and would answer with one of its own early in the second period.
Adam Rayfield scored twice and Chris Doshna found the net, giving Marcellus the lead. Even more important, though, were the goals Doshna and Henry Lawrence produced just before halftime after GB had tied it again, 7-7.
Though the margin was only 9-7 going into the second half, the Mustangs had a lead it would not relinquish.
When GB closed the gap to 10-9 in the third quarter, Nick and Adam Rayfield both converted, insuring a lead going into the final period where, helped by two more goals from Doshna, Marcellus outscored the Lions 4-1 to put it away.
Adam Rayfield led with five goals and three assists. Doshna and Nick Rayfield both scored four times, with Doshna adding a pair of assists as Doryn LeClair and Jimmy Cox also got goals. Quenten Polkowski recorded nine saves.
Marcellus now will make its state tournament debut, meeting Section X’s Ogdensburg in Saturday’s regional final at West Genesee’s Mike Messere Field at 3 p.m.
Westhill attempted to join Marcellus as a sectional champion, but could not pull off a second straight win over Jamesville-DeWitt in the Class C title game, falling 12-10 to the Red Rams.
Strong out of the gate on offense, the Warriors gained a 4-3 lead by the end of the first quarter, only to get held to a single goal in the second as the Rams battled back and took a 6-5 advantage to the break.
They traded goals until early in the fourth quarter, when J-D’s Aidan Bates hit on back-to-back tallies. When Westhill cut it to 10-8, the Rams countered with Merris Kessler’s fourth goal of the night and a Lucas Patchen conversion with 5:40 to play.
Yet the Warriors weren’t done. Luke Gilmartin, again carrying much of Westhill’s attack, landed his sixth goal and, with less that two minutes left, a J-D major penalty gave the Warriors an extra man for the rest of regulation.
Owen Etoll converted his third goal with 1:28 left to cut the margin to two, but J-D didn’t allow anything more and reclaimed the sectional title against the same Westhill team it lost to in this same round on this same field one year earlier.
