CENTRAL NEW YORK – Maybe the most difficult part of a great season in the high school ranks is falling just one victory short of a state championship, regardless of the circumstances.
Jamesville-DeWitt felt this in 2023, getting all the way to the state Class C final, only to get routed 14-5 by Manhasset. Every Red Rams player back this spring is bent on going one step further.
Ready to go in last Thursday night’s season opener, all J-D did against Oswego was score 14 goals – in the first quarter, going from there to a 22-2 victory over the Buccaneers.
It was quite a different story for Fayetteville-Manlius, who against reigning sectional Class D champion Marcellus that same night absorbed a late Mustangs rally and, going to overtime, edged the Mustangs 12-11.
Marcellus, also a state finalist in 2023, did not flinch when the Hornets steadily built an 8-4 advantage by halftime. Instead, it shut out F-M in the third quarter and then caught up in an active final period for both attacks.
So it went to OT at 11-11, where F-M prevailed on Kyle Freyer’s goal less than 90 seconds into the extra frame and rewarded goalie Conor Reynolds, who piled up 14 saves, well more than the five from Mustangs counterpart Quenton Polkowski.
Henry Dougherty and Randal Hearn both scored three times, with Sean Kellish getting two goals and two assists. Colin Clark, Tyler Burns and Owen McCarthy also netted goals, Charles Addonizio adding an assist.
What took a whole game for F-M to achieve against Marcellus was something J-D did in less than a quarter in its romp of Oswego, the 14-goal outburst accounting for most of the night’s offense.
Ultimately, 11 different players found the net, led by Sam Brazell (four goals, one assist) and Brody Kesserling (three goals, one assist), with Lucas Patchen scoring twice and amassing four assists.
Andrew Laubenstein and Graham Kesserling also had two-goal outings, Laubenstein tacking on two assists. Ben Porter had a goal and two assists, while Jackson King, Bryan Tracy and Nate Cottet also found the net.
