MANLIUS – Just as it did in 2023, the Marcellus boys lacrosse team did not let anyone stand in the way of a Section III Class D championship and, in fact, never let anyone get close.
The Mustangs repeated as champions Wednesday night at Fayetteville-Manlius Stadium, overwhelming Westhill 17-1 in one of the most lopsided finals in Section III history.
Only some of it had to do with the Warriors’ struggles. A whole lot more of it had to do with the way Marcellus excelled in every single phase of the game, start to finish.
Having beat the Warriors 19-8 two weeks earlier, the Mustangs did not take any chances in the rematch, netting a trio of early goals before defender Nick Spitzer, who had just three goals all season, get open and fire home his fourth – all while nursing a shoulder injured right before that play.
Owen Etoll did get Westhill on the board in the second period, but that was amid another Mustangs barrage that spread the margin to 9-1 before halftime, and even that did not prove satisfactory.
Recording a second-half shutout, Marcellus saw Nick Rayfield torment the Warriors by piling up five goals and four assists, with Donavan Fraher stepping up to score four times.
Adam Rayfield and Jimmy Cox both earned three assists, Cox tacking on two goals to match the totals of Chris Doshna and Damyn LeClair. Dieter Steigerwald added a goal and joined Henry Lawrence in the assist column.
In order to get a shot at Marcellus, Westhill first had to gain some payback in the May 25 semifinal at Chittenango High School, where it upended no. 2 seed Skaneateles in a tense 7-6 battle.
Even as it went through its late-season slump dropping five of seven games, the Warriors remembered that it had played the Lakers close on April 23 in an 11-9 loss, and would bring an even better defense to the playoff rematch.
Getting most of the face-offs in the first half, Westhill was able to control the game’s tempo, using long possessions to stretch out the Skaneateles defense and prevent its potent attack from getting much traction.
Led by Tom Pendergast, who would finish with four goals, the Warriors kept it going until it built a 5-2 halftime advantage, then traded goals through the third quarter.
Only in the final period did the Lakers start to assert itself, shutting out Westhill and, down 7-4, battling back within one, only to get denied a chance to take it to overtime by timely late Warriors stops.
Keller O’Hern made 12 saves, one more than Skaneateles goalie Luke Logan , while on the attack Etoll, Charlie DeMore and Andrew Mondo each got one goal and one assist. Jack Hayes and Grady Etoll were also credited with assists.
Though well-balanced, the Lakers only had one player score twice, Landen Brunelle getting them as Sean Kerwick and Luke Mizro each got a goal and two assists. The other goals went to Jack Torrey and Charlie Carbonaro as a seven-game win streak was halted and Skaneateles finished at 13-5.
This starkly contrasted Marcellus routing no. 4 seed General Brown 22-6 in the other semifinal.
Marcellus tied a season mark for goals (it also had 22 against Jordan-Elbridge early in May) and took 36 shots to GB’s 11, with Cox and Nick Rayfieldeach scoring five times as Doshna got four goals and two assists.
Steigerwald had his first three-goal hat trick, with Fraher getting two goals and one assist. Held to one goal, Adam Rayfield still managed four assists to run his season total to 45,Lawrence and Cam Stojkovski adding goals and LeClair getting an assist.
With the sectional title in its possession again, Marcellus faces Canton (Section X) in this Saturday’s regional final last Saturday, heavily favored to reach the state semifinal next Wednesday at SUNY-Cortland against Rochester Aquinas or Chenango Valley, with the state final Saturday at 10 a.m. at Hofstra University on Long Island.
