水果派AV

The No. 1-seeded Lakers took an 8-3 lead into halftime Wednesday, but their offense and defense subsequently had few answers for a Marcellus team that was looking to secure its second straight sectional title. Skaneateles was held to just two second-half goals as it lost in double overtime to the No. 2-seeded Mustangs, 11-10, in the Section III, Class D final at East Syracuse Minoa High School.聽

Following an opening half where Skaneateles dominated the scoreboard and the time of possession, Laker head coach Seth Benjamin credited the Mustangs for switching up their game plan.

鈥淲e knew that when we moved the ball we could score," he told 水果派AV. 鈥淭hey made some defensive adjustments on Charlie Carbonaro and Luke Mizro and made it a little tougher for them to get the ball and push it out. We had some guys step up and make plays. Just fell one short."

Marcellus held a Laker offense that scored 19.4 points per game to just one goal each in the third and fourth quarter. It was also just the third time all season Skaneateles has been held to 10 scores or fewer. With both teams unable to score in the final 10 minutes聽of the fourth quarter, and first overtime, the Mustangs netted the game-winner seven seconds into the second.

In the first half, however, it looked like Skaneateles would blow past its average point mark with ease. The Lakers hit the back of the net five times聽鈥� two coming from Carbonaro 鈥� to take a four-goal advantage after one quarter. They then outscored the Mustangs 3-2 in the second frame to balloon their lead to five at the break.聽

Until a little after the midway point of the third quarter, Skaneateles had prevented its rival from stacking scores to build momentum. However, after struggling to win the possession battle, the Mustangs mounted a comeback by dropping in six scores in the third. In the final four minutes, they netted four scores聽鈥� two in the last 20 seconds聽鈥斅爐o tie the game at nine going into the fourth.

鈥淲e knew they had guys that could score and were going to score goals," Benjamin said.

"They won some faceoffs, got some ground balls and put those back-to-back and kind of took us out of a rhythm a little bit."聽

Despite the third-quarter onslaught, goalie Luke Logan blocked several key shots to keep the Mustangs from pulling away.

The senior racked up 19 saves in his final outing, and finished the season with a save percentage of .584.聽

"Luke was fantastic tonight, and he really made some huge saves on some great shooters," Benjamin said. "It's a really good team over there, with a lot of offensive players."

Ty Calabro paced the Lakers with three goals and one assist. Landen Brunelle dished out a game-high four assists.

Mizro, Carbonaro and Tye Kennedy scored two goals apiece, with Kennedy adding an assist.聽Braedan Taggart netted one score.

The Lakers conclude their season at 14-4.

While Skaneateles could not capture its first sectional title since 2010, it did battle for one for the first time in 14 years 鈥� which was part of the goal for Benjamin's 12 seniors heading into the year.聽

鈥淲e haven鈥檛 been to the championship game in a while, and that's what these seniors had as their goal: Get there and win it," Benjamin said.

"We fell up short, but they gave it their all tonight.聽I can't be prouder of our guys. They battled, every one of them.鈥�