CENTRAL NEW YORK – Jimmy Cox had waited long enough to play his part for Marcellus in Wednesday night’s epochal Section III Class D boys lacrosse championship game against Skaneateles.
Held without a goal, Cox had watched his Mustangs erase a six-goal deficit to the Lakers before the game settled into a stalemate where neither team had scored for more than 14 minutes, including a full overtime period.
Then the second OT started. Connor Ciota won the face-off, charged toward the Skaneateles net and found Cox on the left side. Without any hesitation, Cox put a shot past Luke Logan.
It all took seven seconds.
“We work on that every day in practice,” said Cox, and the work paid off.
A wild celebration by Marcellus players and fans followed, for while this 11-10 victory was the Mustangs’ third straight sectional title, this one eclipsed the more conventional victories in the 2023 and 2024 finals.
“Playing these guys (Skaneateles), being down that much, it means a lot more,” said head coach Collin Donahue.
Not only was it meaningful due to the nature of the rivalry between the two schools, it was unexpected given that the Lakers’ quick start mirrored the 20-10 romp it put together when it met Marcellus in early May.
As it jumped out to an 8-2 lead Skaneateles seemed to have its way against the Mustangs’ defense, with three early goals from Ty Calabro and two each from Luke Mizro and Charlie Carbonaro. What was more, anything the Mustangs tried seemed to get turned back by Logan, who was on his way to 19 saves for the night.
Then, as Cox put it, “we flipped the switch.”
Henry Lawrence sparked the comeback with his goal late in the first half. Then he hit on three more goals in the third quarter with Donavan Fraher converting twice to erase most of the Mustangs’ deficit.
With just 6.6 seconds left in the third period Chris Doshna tied it, 9-9. Then he converted again early in the fourth quarter to briefly put Marcellus in front before Landon Brunelle, who already had four assists, answered 16 seconds later.
Now the game slowed down, each side valuing possessions and trying to move out in front but unable to do so as the 10-10 tie would hold well past the end of regulation.
More than a dozen times a shot by either side could have won it. But they either flew wide, hit the posts or got turned back by Logan and Marcellus goalie Otto Moses, who was sensational throughout the game’s latter stages and was rewarded when Cox put home the game-winner.
They got here by winning their respective sectional Class D semifinals last Saturday afternoon. Going first, Skaneateles was challenged by no. 4 seed General Brown but did enough in key stages to outlast the Lions 12-9.
Breaking out of a 2-2 tie in the second quarter, the Lakers moved out in front 6-4 by halftime and then would spend the entire second half patiently turning back all of GB’s attempts to catch up.
Logan and Carbonaro led the way, Logan by stopping 18 of the Lions’ 27 shots and Carbonaro pouring in five goals plus an assist. It was well-balanced around him as Mizro, Calabro and Braedan Taggart each had two goals and one assist. Landen Brunelle added a goal and assist.
Then Marcellus got its turn against no. 3 seed LaFayette/Onondaga in the other semifinal and would control matters from the outset on the way to a 19-9 victory over the Lancers.
Almost echoing the 21-9 win it had when these two teams met two weeks earlier, the Mustangs bolted out 6-1 before the first quarter was over and then kept building on that margin the rest of the way.
Cox and Nick Rayfield both scored four times, Rayfield adding three assists. Doshna and Fraher equaled each other with three goals and three assists, with Lawrence and Ciota each converting twice and Lawerence adding two assists.
