By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
CROSS RIVER, N.Y. --- The goals didn't come easily at the outset and the skill and team polish drifted in and out of championship form, struggles that were to be expected on Opening Night, particularly with the cold and blustery conditions and an opponent that knows something about championships itself.
But one program hallmark never abandoned the John Jay High boys' lacrosse team during its season-opening 11-1 rout of Rye on Thursday night - intensity. The Indians, Section I Class A champions in 2006 and sectional Class B titlists in 2005, showed those who braved the wintry conditions that it again means business this spring.
And make no mistake about it. The lacrosse business starts extremely early this season at the intersection of Routes 35 and 121.
Thursday night it was two-time defending Sectional I Class C champion Rye that provided the opposition. Saturday on Long Island, the stakes will be raised immeasurably higher as John Jay tangles with two-time defending state Class B champion Huntington, which also happens to be ranked No. 1 in the country by STX/Inside Lacrosse.
A week later, the Indians will receive a visit from Massachusetts trend setter Duxbury.
"Every year, coach Sav tries to make our schedule as difficult as he possibly can," said John Jay's Yale University recruit, Brian Douglass, referring to coach Nick Savastano.
"And every year it gets progressively more difficult. That's a huge help for our team. And because we have this game on Saturday and some very other tough games early in the season, we worked extremely hard in the pre season to get ready for tonight."
Thus it didn't really matter that the John Jay attack sputtered at times despite scoring twice in the first 2:43 of the game. It didn't matter that the Indians waited until the latter portion of the first half before firing on all offensive cylinders.
The fire in the belly was there at the outset and so was the defensive focus. Rye didn't produce its first shot until 2:10 into the second quarter and didn't score its lone goal until 57 seconds remained in the game.
If anyone was looking for a John Jay hangover following last season's OT triumph against Class A kingpin Yorktown in the sectional final, they were looking in the wrong place.
"Being that this was the first game, we were trying to prepare as well as we could; last season doesn't matter any more,'' said Douglass, who finished with four goals and one assist.
"I think our intensity more than anything was what really kicked off this game and the season for us, rather than how sharp we were. If you come out with intensity that says something to the other team at the start, you're going to gain a mental advantage.
"Plus we have so many kids in the program vying for positions, so the competition in the pre season was fierce. Some of that fierceness and competitiveness probably carried over.''
The John Jay victory also gained win No. 100 for Savastano, who came into his eighth season with the Indians with a 99-34 record. The mark would stand mightily no matter who John Jay played on an annual basis. The fact that Savastano puts together one of the state's top schedules makes the achievement even more admirable.
"There are a lot of expectations on this team," Douglass said. "We're just hoping to get out there and do as well as we can and go as far as we can. Every year our goal is the Sectional title. If you make it past there everything else is gravy. John Jay has never won a state championship in lacrosse so that would be fantastic, but the first thing we have to take care of is Section I."
John Jay out-shot Rye by 32-8. Matt Rix, playing in goal for injured Yale recruit Colin Hart, made 11 saves for the Garnets.
John Jay junior attackman Chris Bocklet, who has already committed to Virginia for the 2009 season, contributed two goals and three assists. New starting goalie Chris Latino made one save for the Indians, as did Matt Phillips, who finished up.
"I told our coaches to be ready for a zone and to have (Rye) slow the game down and maybe we'd have a 7-5 game," said Savastano. "That's what I was worried about. So for me to turn around and walk out of here with an 11-1 win, I'm very, very happy.
"We have veteran group," Savastano continued. "We're a little green in the midfield, but to have a kid like (Will) Stewart, who's only a sophomore, pop in a nice goal the way he did is great. The big thing today was, the kids hung in there. They understood that things were there, and that the shots would fall eventually for us. And no matter what happened we were playing great defense."
The question now is, how great will the Indians' be when they take on talent-laden Huntington, which features, among others, the Virginia-bound twins Rhamel and Shamel Bratton? John Jay will be forced to play without Maryland recruit and defenseman Ryan Bohlander, who will attend his brother's wedding.
"We're the favorites usually when we play in Section I," Savastano said, "but I think our team will thrive on being the underdogs, big time underdogs at that. It's one of those games that will make all of us, me, the other coaches and the players better."
So was that the intention with scheduling this game? That and setting up a possible preview of the state Class B semifinal on June 7 at Hofstra University?
"You know why we actually picked them up?" said Savastano. "We were looking for a game and we knew no one else had any openings so we just said, `let's call Huntington. They'll have an open date because no one else wants to play them.' We're the only idiots who would do that."
Judging by Thursday's performance, John Jay is as ready as it can be.
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Master Photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and a Northeast Region columnist. He may be reached at 203-563-2297 or at j.stout@jmstout.org.
