Here are the top 10 topics for the June 1 edition of the Inside High School Sports Show.
1. Baldwinsville’s sweep of the Section III lacrosse Class A championships began last Friday with the boys Bees routing West Genesee 18-6 in the title game at Bragman Stadium, with the trio of Brendan Wilcox, Austin Bolton and Adam Davis combining for 13 goals as the Bees won its second sectional title in three years and would face a tough regional final Saturday against Corning on the Hawks’ own home turf. F-M, as expected, rolled to the sectional Class B title, defeating Auburn 13-4 with a fine all-around effort as five different players had multiple goals and Jack Shanley earned a hat trick. F-M’s challenge is against Vestal in Saturday’s regional final as it hopes to get to the June 8 state title game at St. John Fisher College.
2. The much-anticipated Class C boys lacrosse sectional final between J-D and F-M ended up 12-9 in the Red Rams’ favor, helped by five goals from Connor Durkin and timely late defense, plus the saves by sophomore goalie Jamison MacLachlan to get back the sectional title it lost a year ago and knock off the state no. 2-ranked Brothers. Meanwhile, LaFayette followed up shocking state no. 1-ranked Skaneateles in the sectional semifinals with a near-perfect performance against Marcellus in the title game to win 16-1 and earn its first sectional title in 10 years. Both the Red Rams and the Lancers have to win two regional games this week in order to reach state semifinals next Wednesday at C-NS’s Bragman Stadium.
3. Just as their male counterparts did, Baldwinsville and F-M’s girls lacrosse teams swept their way to Section III titles Tuesday night at SUNY-Corltand. B’ville scored the first six goals of the final agianst West Genesee and never looked back, eventually defeating the Wildcats 16-6 as Sophia Cavallaro had a career-best five goals, plus two assists. F-M trailed Auburn 5-2 in the sectional Class B final, but then notched eight unanswered goals in the middle stages on the way to beating the Maroons 16-8, the Shanley sisters (Katie and Kiera) netting nine goals between them. In the regional final, F-M would face Horseheads as B’ville gets Ithaca, whom it beat 12-9 last month, with berths in the state final four at Cortland on the line.
4. A tense, dramatic girls lacrosse Section III Class D final at SUNY-Cortland had Skaneateles surrender a three-goal lead to South Jefferson in the last 2 1/2 minutes, only to win it 11-10 when Maggie Newton scored with 2.1 seconds left in regulation, the Lakers avenging its loss to the Spartans in the title game one year earlier. By contrast, J-D, winning its third consecutive sectional Class C title, broke away from ESM in the middle stages as the Red Rams defeated the Spartans 14-6, Ana Dieroff the catalyst thanks to five goals and two assists. Both Skaneateles and J-D are heavily favored in regional finals Saturday at F-M to get back to Cortland next weekend and puruse state championships.
5. Already in the Section III baseball playoffs, top seed Holland Patent in Class B was ousted by a no. 16 seed, Clinton, while no. 2 seed Port Byron-Union Springs fell to Westhill in the quarterfinals, blowing open the bracket as no. 2 seed Fabius-Pompey lost in the Class D quarterfinals to McGraw. Up in Class AA, West Genesee barely missed getting the top seed and a bye into the semifinals, and instead got knocked out 3-1 in 10 innings by F-M, who could meet C-NS in one semifinal as Baldwinsville and Liverpool square off in the other. The top seeds in Class C, Oriskany and Cooperstown, remain alive, while in Class A CBA would look to join a semifinal docket that already has J-D taking on Auburn. The sectional finals are this weekend.
6. Early rounds in the Section III softball playoffs has also produced some interesting results, whether it was Jordan-Elbridge upending Cazenovia in the Class B opening round to Tully beating Sandy Creek 12-7 in Class C, the Black Knights avenging its defeat to the Comets in last year’s sectional final. Yet it all takes place amid a backdrop where there’s solid favorites in every class, from C-NS in Class AA to J-D trying to again win it all in Class A to Oneida at the top of the Class B pack. West Canada is the top seed in Class C and LaFargeville the top seed in Class D, all of it headed to semifinals Saturday and finals Monday, with the games split between the Gillette Road complex and Carrier Park.
7. In the Section III boys track and field championships, it was Liverpool who earned the title in Class AA, holding off Utica Proctor, while New Hartford again went to the top in Class A. Chittenango claimed the Class B-1 sectional title on its home track, while Cazenovia commpleted a dominant season with the Class B-2 sectional crown. Host Sauquoit Valley edged South Lewis by two points to claim the top spot in Class C-1, while Beaver River dominated the Class C-2 sectional meet and Remsen edged Fabius-Pompey for top honors in Class D. Friday will bring the sectional state qualifier at C-NS with top finishers advancing to next week’s state championships at Middletown.
8. The series of Section III girls track and field championships last week had some exceptional team performances. Liverpool, led by Marissa Baskin, pulled away from everyone in Class AA to complete a boys/girls sweep as Central Square won at home for the Class A sectional title, with ESM taking second place. Westhill held off Camden in a close contest in Class B-1, while Clinton’s depth proved too much for anyone else in the Class B-2 sectional meet. Tully, led by Brooke Rauber, again was the Class C-2 sectional champions as South Lewis blitzed the field in Class C-1 and Poland was victorious in Class D. Like the boys, the girls have its sectional state qualifier Friday night at Bragman Stadium.
9. The girls golf Section III championships refleced the regular season, undefeated F-M taking the large-school team title for the fourth year in a row as CBA, also without a defeat in 2019, won the team small-school title. F-M, as a team, is going to this weekend’s state tournament at Deerfield CC in Brockport as Liverpool’s sister duo of Mia and Nataly Avotins lead the individuals. In boys golf, the sectional state qualifier last weekend at Seven Oaks ended up in a tie for first between Manlius-Pebble Hill’s Johnny Gruninger and West Genesee’s Nick Bove. Both are going to the state tournament that starts Sunday at Cornell University’s course, with Gruninger and MPH teammate Grant Lewis both in the field.
10. And there’s the boys tennis state championships that start Thursday at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, annual site of the U.S. Open. In singles, Section III brings along J-D’s Peter Hatton (who nearly also made the state golf tournament, too), plus Mexico’s Joe Ocker and Baldwinsville’s Antonio Marsallo, Hatton having won the state qualifying tournament without dropping a single set along the way. Strong doubles teams from CBA (Ben and Dean Vlassis), J-D (Essex Glowaki and Dhruv Nanavati) and F-M (Rohan Dhawan and Riley Ma) could all make deep runs after their top-three finishes at last week’s state qualifier. Play starts on Thursday, leading up to Saturday’s state finals.
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