CENTRAL NEW YORK – Though each of the area high school boys lacrosse teams have championship ambitions going into the Section III playoffs, Jamesville-DeWitt is best situated, both with the top seed in Class C and a no. 3 state ranking.
Back in Class A this time around, Fayetteville-Manlius got a much-needed boost last Tuesday when it held off Cicero-North Syracuse 9-8, a result nearly identical to the 8-7 win it earned over the Northstars late in April.
F-M broke out of a 3-3 tie in the second quarter, gaining a 7-5 edge by halftime. Then it extended the margin to 9-6, just enough to withstand a fourth-quarter scoring drought and C-NS’s furious comeback.
Colin Clark, with two goals and two assists, led a well-balanced attack where Sean Kellish and Tom Porter also scored twice. Randal Hearn had a goal and two assists, with Kyle Fryer and Henry Dougherty getting the other goals and each of Conor Reynolds’ 12 saves an important one.
Now F-M looked to avenge an April defeat to its biggest rival, West Genesee, on Thursday night, but while it made a valiant late-game comeback, it could not quite complete it and lost, 12-10, to the Wildcats.
WG did a lot of damage early, establishing a 6-3 lead through one period, and then kept going. F-M trailed 8-4 at the break before it began to fight back, nipping at the margin was not erasing it.
Hearn still netted three goals, with Clark, Porter and Dougherty each converting twice. Kieran Egan had the other goal as Burns and Feryer were held to single assists. Gary McLane and Teshale Kelly led the Wildcats with three goals apiece.
J-D’s lead-up to the playoffs included a non-league clash with Liverpool last Thursday night that proved quite a test, but the Red Rams passed it, defeating the Warriors 10-7.
In large part it had to do with a first half where J-D kept Liverpool off the board until the second quarter and established a 6-1 margin. Then Sam Brazell, aided by a strong Rams defense anchored by Ben Porter. Daniel Diel and Carson Corona, made sure the Warriors didn’t catch up.
Carrying the Rams’ attack, Brazell scored five times and got three assists, the passes often going to Lucas Patchen, who had three goals. Alex Carolin and Graham Kesserling also found the net, with goalie Emmet McCaul earning 10 saves.
Prior to that, J-D pummeled Horseheads (Section IV) 20-3 last Tuesday, with Kesserling scoring five times and Brazell getting four goals and four assists. Carolin got three goals and two assists as Andrew Laubenstein had two goals and two assists, Ben Porter also converting twice.
East Syracuse Minoa clinched a winning record for 2024 when it shut down Central Square 13-2 last Tuesday night, only surrendering single goals in the second and fourth quarters.
Controlling most of the possessions, the Spartans had Logan Welch get four goals and two assists. Mike Santillo and Cayden Claflin each scored three times, with Gavin Rinaldi getting two goals and two assists. Noah Taylor amassed four assists as the other goal went to Jake Aldrich.
A clash of Spartan teams on Thursday saw ESM fight off New Hartford 13-8, jumping to a 4-1 lead through one period and essentially protecting that margin for the rest of the game.
Welch, with four goals, led a team balanced at the front. Santillo scored twice and got three assists, with Claflin and Taylor both earning three-goal hat tricks and combining for three assists. Rinaldi had the other goal.
Christian Brothers Academy put together one of its best games of the season last Thursday night, against Tully, where it jumped out to an 11-3 lead by halftime and went on to bash the Black Knights 20-6.
With his career-best seven assists, Jack Wichmann set the tone, often passing to Ben Anderson, who scored six times. Vince Lazzaro added four goals and two assists as Will Cannizzo (three goals, one assist) and Jack Vaughn (two goals, two assists) produced, too. James Stanton, Jon Fallon and Julian Araujo also earned goals.
Two days later, CBA jumped out to a 7-0 advantage on Jordan-Elbridge by the end of the first quarter and breezed from there to defeat the Eagles 19-7 to improve its overall record to 7-8.
Anderson (five goals, one assist) and Lazzaro (three goals, three assists) matched each other in points. Cannizzo scored three times and added an assist as Wichmann and Fallon both had two goals and one assist. Single goals went to Stanton, Jack Ludington and Sam Fairbanks.
