CENTRAL NEW YORK – True, it was fortuitous for the Christian Brothers Academy boys lacrosse team to get moved up to Class B this season away from the shadow of Jamesville-DeWitt in Class C and just as West Genesee and Fayetteville-Manlius moved back up to Class A.
Yet the Brothers earned its first sectional championship since 2018 through the quality of its own play and with its poise, which it fully demonstrated Wednesday night when it rallied past Watertown 9-6 in the sectional final at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium.
It took an all-around effort to overcome what the Cyclones accomplished early, notching three consecutive goals after Jack Wichmann converted less than two minutes into the game.
Though Vince Lazzaro’s goal cut it to 3-2 going into the second period, Watertown continued to flourish, controlling the tempo and getting Nico Spaziani to add a second and third goal to one he had scored earlier.
Also, the Cyclones’ defense contained CBA’s typically explosive attack. All that the Brothers could get in the second quarter was a second goal from Lazzaro and it trailed 5-3 going to the break.
Two things turned the game around. One was that CBA showed more patience of its own when on the attack and it translated into a go-ahead surge. Lazzaro scored for a third time with Wichmann adding a second goal and Ben Anderson finding the net.
So the Brothers led 6-5 at the end of the third quarter, but knew it needed more. Continuing with what worked bLefore, CBA would see Lazzaro strike for his fourth and fifth goals of the night.
This, combined with Liam Hardy’s goal and a defense which only gave up two goals in the second half anchored by Drew Britton’s 12 saves, ended the Brothers’ seven-year wait for a sectional title.
Back in the sectional semifinals on May 31 Watertown had ended the title dreams of East Syracuse Minoa as the no. 2 seed Cyclones knocked off the no. 3 seed Spartans 15-6.
Cold, wet conditions plus home-field advantage seemed to suit Watertown, who quickly went out in front and put together a 6-1 dash through the second quarter to take a 9-2 lead to halftime.
This allowed the Cyclones to slow down the tempo in the second half and never let any of ESM’s top forwards get into a rhythm. No Spartans player had more than one goal.
Noah Taylor augmented his tally with three assists as Mike Santillo got a single assist joining Nick Courcy, Cayden Claflin, Nate Bonaparte and Brody Vollmer in the goal-scoring column. Three different Cyclones players – Nico Spaziani, Kage Loftus and Liam O’Donnell – had three goals apiece to overcome eight saves from Ethan Pickard and Gus Gallery.
CBA, meanwhile, rolled past no. 4 seed Auburn 16-3 at Alibrandi Stadium netting all of its goals in the first three quarters with Wichmann at the forefront.
Reaching double digits in points, Wichmann scored seven times and tacked on three assists. Andrew Sullivan had three goals, with Hardy and Anderson each converting twice. Lazzaro and Jack Ludington had the other goals with Jack Vaughn getting two assists and Britton stopping 16 of the Maroons’ 19 direct shots.
While all this was going on, Jamesville-DeWitt had no trouble at all earning yet another sectional Class C championship.
Wednesday night’s sectional final at East Syracuse Minoa Stadium had J-D against Homer and turned this game into what so many others were like this spring as the Rams ripped past the Trojans 20-5.
With a bye directly into the sectional Class C semifinals, J-D then pummeled no. 4 seed Carthage 17-2 on May 31, a game it led 6-0 after the first quarter in its first game action in 10 days.
Gradually, the margin kept growing as 10 different Rams players picked up goals but none had more than the hat tricks from Tate Mullin and Dan Kresge. Lucas Patchen had two goals and two assists, with Ryan Babikan and Miles Patchen also converting twice. Jackson King, Lucas Brazell and Braeden Baker each had one goal and one assist.
Homer had beaten New Hartford 7-3 in the other semifinal and for the briefest of moments on a hot afternoon with the temperature past 90 degrees, it had hope as the Trojans won the opening face-off and Mason Potter scored less than a minute into the game.
But that moment would pass.
Within 24 seconds Andrew Laubenstein tied it and 23 seconds later Babikan put J-D ahead for good. By the time the first quarter was done Laubenstein had scored four times and the Rams had an 8-2 lead.
Then came a second period where the Rams notched eight unanswered goals. King and Lucas Patchen scored nine seconds apart. Brazell, Sawyer McIntosh and Miles Patchen all took turns converting, and with a 16-2 lead at halftime the entire second half was played with a running clock.
