CENTRAL NEW YORK – On a single Tuesday evening in mid-April, the Marcellus, Skaneateles and Westhill boys lacrosse teams each took the field, and each won by convincing margins against what seemed like high-level competition.
Of the group, Skaneateles might have put up the best showing. Against a Homer side off to a 5-0 start, the Lakers were patient and calm until it broke out in the third quarter and went on to tame the Trojans 14-4.
Even though it didn’t produce much in the first half, Skaneateles still unleashed an imposing defense that limited Homer to a single goal in those 24 minutes.
Then the third period happened, the Lakers outscoring the Trojans 7-1 and getting away, Sean Kerwick and Jack Torrey both working their totals to four goals and combining for three assists.
Luke Mizro had a three-goal hat trick of his own. Landen Brunelle got two goals and two assists, with Charlie Carbonaro getting a goal and three assists. Luke Logan, in goal, recorded eight saves.
Then, facing Jordan-Elbridge on Thursday night, Skaneateles again won big, grounding the Eagles 19-7 as it jumped out 6-0 in the first quarter and doubled the margin from there.
Five different Lakers finished with three-goal hat tricks. Kerwick and Brunelle added three assists, with Carbonaro and Cheney getting two assists and Torrey a single assist. Mizro had wo goals, with single goals going to Andrew Falkenberg and Devon Gryzlo.
All that was left to have a perfect week was to beat Fayetteville-Manilus on Saturday, and Skaneateles nearly got there, leading 9-7 going to the fourth quarter before the Hornets charged late and prevailed 12-10, overcoming two goals from Brunelle, Mizro and Cheney along with three assists from Kerwick and two assists apiece from Torrey and Carbonaro. Tyler Burns (four goals) and Randal Hearn (three goals, two assists) led F-M.
Marcellus had plenty of success when it took on Christian Brothers Academy at Alibrandi Stadium and put together another strong all-around efffort to beat the Brothers 12-3.
The Brothers did not get on the board until the second quarter, and even then had just one goal in each remaining period, two of them scored by Ben Anderson as he also assisted on Will Cannizzo’s tally.
CBA goalie Rico Petrosillo recorded 20 saves, but Marcellus still found enough chances, the trio of Chris Doshna, Nick Rayfield and Jimmy Cox getting three goals apiece and Adam Rayfield adding two goals and three assists. Donovan Fraher also had a goal and assist and Quenton Polkowski got 12 saves.
Marcellus then flattened Tully 19-5 on Thursday night, Cox setting a new career mark with five goals to go with an assist. Nick and Adam Rayfield both scored three times, with Doshna getting two goals and two assists. Connor Ciota also scored twice, with Henry Lawrence adding a goal and two assists. Fraher, Griffin Barney and Hollis Child also converted.
Not to be left out of this, Westhill hosted Cazenovia last Tuesday and shut down the Lakers 14-3, a lot of it due to goalie Keller O’Hern, who stopped 11 of the 14 Cazenovia shots he faced.
On the other end, Andrew Mondo’s four goals and three assists paced an attack where Tom Pendergast and Charlie DeMore also had three-goal hat tricks. Pendergast added two assists as Jack Hayes scored twice, with single goals going to Owen Etoll and Josh Gratien.
These same two teams met again on Saturday afternoon on Cazenovia’s new artificial turf facility, and in chilly, windy conditions Westhill’s defense continued to shine as it completed a sweep of the Lakers by an 8-2 margin.
So good were the Warriors that it didn’t allow a goal until the fourth quarter, O’Hern stopping everything on his way to 10 saves. Charlie DeMore anchored the attack, dishing out four assists as he joined Pendergast and Josh Gratien with two goals apiece, the other goals going to Hayes and Teddy DeMore, who also got assists.
