CENTRAL NEW YORK – Regardless of where their records stood, all of the area’s high school boys lacrosse teams found their way to important victories early last week as the Section III playoffs loomed.

And of those wins, none resonated more than what Jamesville-DeWitt did Saturday at West Genesee, the state Class C no. 3 Red Rams taking apart the Wildcats 15-5 to dominate a clash of legendary and accomplished programs.

The key to the win was what J-D did in the face-off circle, constantly getting the ball and turning them into extra possessions as it outscored WG in every single quarter led by Lucas Patchen and Sam Brazell getting four goals apiece.

Andrew Laubenstein chimed in with three goals, while Ben Porter scored twice. Graham Kesserling and Eli Goldberg added goals as Alex Carolin, Nick Miller and Braeden Baker added assists and Emmet McCaul stopped 12 of the Wildcats’ 17 shots.

And this was in the wake of J-D taking apart East Syracuse Minoa 18-4 on Thursday, building a comfortable margin and then enhancing it with a 6-0 dash through the second quarter that produced a 13-2 halftime margin.

Brazell netted six goals, adding a pair of assists. Baker, Kesserling, Laubenstein and Patchen had two goals apiece, Baker adding three assists and Kesserling a pair of assists. Alex Carolin got a goal and three assists as, for the Spartans, Cayden Claflin scored twice and single goals went to Noah Taylor and Gavin Rinaldi.

Back on Tuesday night, ESM had its most dramatic win of the season, staging a late comeback to beat Auburn 14-13 in overtime.

Auburn jumped out 5-0 in the first quarter, yet ESM countered with a second-quarter shutout of its own to pull within one, 5-4, at the break. From there, they exchanged goals until the Maroons surged early in the final period.

Trailing 13-10, ESM made it all the way back with three late goals to make it to OT and then winning it there, Mike Santillo scoring five times overall as Claflin and Logan Welch got three goals apiece. Rinaldi and Nick Courcy both got one goal and one assist as each of Luke James’ 10 saves was important.

There was Fayetteville-Manlius hosting Baldwinsville and knocking off the reigning state Class A champion Bees 9-8 to get even for a 10-9 defeat when the two sides met in B’ville in April.

Holding the no. 14 spot in the state Class A rankings, F-M made its move in the second quarter, erasing an early 2-1 deficit by going on a 5-2 run to lead 7-4 at the break.

Colin Clark led the attack, accumulating three assists as he, along with Randal Hearn and Tyler Burns, netted two goals apiece, the other goals going to Henry Dougherty, Ryder Baldwin and Sean Kellish.

As the tension built in the second half, B’ville chipped away, yet it never could get enough possessions as F-M kept getting draws and applying pressure, the 21 saves from Bees goalie Trevor Sutton keeping it close.

This made Thursday’s 10-5 defeat to Liverpool a bit easier to take, though it was a case of F-M allowing itself to get shut down by the Warriors’ defense and get held to single goals each of the last two quarters.

Those five goals came from five different players – Burns, Clark, Baldwin, Kyle Freyer and Tom Porter. Owen McCarthy and Charles Addonizio added assists as Chris Mattot (five goals) and Owen Michaud (three goals, three assists) paced Liverpool.

Christian Brothers Academy, despite entering the week at 3-8, proved it could be a dangerous playoff opponent by going to Westhill last Tuesday and shutting down the state Class D no. 10-ranked Warriors in an 8-3 win.

CBA was steeled by the tough schedule it faced and, on this day, slowed things down during a first half where it kept Westhill off the board, even as it only managed a 1-0 lead.

Then things opened up in the second half and the Brothers, with six different goal-scorers (Only Vince Lazzaro and Will Cannizzo scored twice), pulled away, the other goals going to Ben Anderson, James Stanton, Julian Araujo and Jon Fallon.

All that Westhill could manage was single goals by Jack Hayes, Tom Pendergast and Owen Etoll, everything else turned back as Brothers goalie Rico Petrosillo stopped 11 of the 14 direct shots he faced.