PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The lacrosse gods may have been sending a sign to the New York sports community back on April 3.
That was the night that Canandaigua traveled to Orchard Park for a game memorable in so many ways, not the least of which was all-everything attackman Jeff Tundo scoring in literally the final second of the contest. It was the margin in Orchard Park’s 5-4 victory after the Quakers had fallen behind 4-1.
But the night was also memorable for horrific weather of almost Biblical proportions: temperatures in the low 40s, high winds and sheets of rain.
“It was unbelievable,” Tundo said this week. “After awhile I couldn’t feel my hands.”
Said Canandaigua’s Marshall Johnson: ”We were expecting a little rain and got a hurricane instead.”
Jeff Tundo, Orchard Park
File photo by Richard Wallden
And for Canandaigua it was the beginning of a 2-2 start that reminded a latent-laden roster that there was considerable work to be done if the Braves were to get back to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association semifinals.
“That was embarrassing,” said Johnson, Canandaigua’s senior midfielder. “We knew we were a better team than that, so it was a slap to our face. It was the first game and we had beaten them twice the year before, which doesn’t mean anything. But we had wanted to keep the streak going.”
Now, however, Canandaigua has another streak in progress. By dominating Hamburg, 17-3 in the state quarterfinals on Tuesday at St. John Fisher College, the Braves pushed their season winning streak to 18 games and set up a semifinal Thursday against Jamesville-DeWitt. The winner returns to Rochester on Saturday for the Class B championship game at Marina Auto Stadium.
Meanwhile, Orchard Park turned up the jets against Webster Thomas with an eight-goal third quarter en route to a 22-10 victory. Tundo and Sean Rimmer scored six goals apiece and Artie Marrapese added four to set up a surprise semifinal against Ithaca, which pulled a stunning, 6-2 upset of state No. 1 West Genesee on Tuesday.
For the uninitiated, a New York state lacrosse final without West Genesee is like Thanksgiving without turkey or Halloween without pumpkins, considering that the Wildcats had last failed to qualify for a title game in 2001.
An Orchard Park pessimist might suggest the development makes the Quakers ripe for overconfidence; an optimist could argue that it’s another sign that the stars are aligning once again for the talented core of seniors that steamrolled the football competition for Section 6’s first large-school state football championship in nine years in late November.
“Yeah, I was looking ahead a little,” Tundo admitted. “You have to. I mean, it’s West Genesee. How many state championships have they won?”
The answer would be 15. To put it in perspective, all of Section VI combined has won a grand total of 21 games – not championships, just games – in any class in the 33 years of the state tournament.
No Western New York team has ever won a championship in the sport although Orchard Park dropped finals to Long Island foes in 2000 and 2001, and Penn Yan (Class C, 2001) is the only Section V squad to pull it off. Now, two of the best teams ever to emerge from west of the state fairgrounds outside Syracuse are two wins from the ultimate prize.
“I remember when my brother played and made it to the state championship two years in a row,” said Tundo, who’ll continue his lacrosse career at Ohio State next season. “They beat West Genny the first year and Auburn the next, and I can remember thinking that I wanted to do that as a senior. It’s been a dream for all of us. Artie came here in seventh grade so he’s relatively new, but for the rest of us it’s been a dream for as long as I can remember.
More Boys Lacrosse: Ithaca snaps section's 27-game dry spell vs. champs
* Ithaca’s shocker vs. West Genesee made the Little Red the first Section IV team in 27 tries to knock off the Wildcats in the quarterfinals. Junior midfielder Gabe Mendola won all 12 faceoffs and connected for the go-ahead goal, Reily Lasda scored two goals and A.J. Fiore made 13 saves.
"This is just another step," senior Evan Thomas told The Ithaca Journal. "We're excited about it. It's a huge win, an outstanding win for us. We played great today. But it's just another step toward that eventual goal."
West Genesee took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter but could not solve Ithaca's zone defense the rest of the way.
* Playing two days after the death of his grandmother in South Carolina, Sayville junior Dan Mellynchuk scored two fourth-quarter goals in a 12-10 victory over Garden City in the Long Island Class B boys lacrosse final.
"Absolutely, it was on my mind," Mellynchuk told Newsday. "She was real sick, but it was still upsetting. Especially for my dad (Scott, an assistant coach who missed the game). They were very close. It had a big impact on me. Not having my dad on the sidelines was tough."
Sayville head coach Christian Doller was ejected after drawing two flags with 3:41 remaining in the first half and will have to miss the state semifinal game against Niskayuna, the paper reported.
* Senior All-American Dan McKinney scored a career-high seven goals as Niskayuna downed Somers in a Class B quarterfinal, 14-5. Stefan Sloma (10 saves) was pressed into duty after starting goaltender James Manchester came down ill.
* Yorktown scored seven goals in the first quarter and held Guilderland scoreless for almost 35 minutes in a 16-4 victory in Class A.
John Ranagan grabbed the opening faceoff and fed Remy Lieberman 12 second into the game for the first of his four goals. Extra-man goals by Ranagan, Kevin Interlicchio and Ty Schuldt gave Yorktown a 5-1 lead 4:38 into the game.
Baseball: Mexico slugger wins with walk-off blast
* Senior catcher Kody O’Connor hit a three-run, walk-off home run to lift Mexico past Massena, 5-3 in the NYSPHSAA Class A first round at Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse.
It was O’Connor's 34th career homer, seventh this season and third in two games.
“Around Mexico, he’s like the stuff that legends are built on,” coach Brian DeLola told The Post-Standard. “The kids in elementary schools all talk about Kody. A lot of them were here tonight. This just adds to his legacy as one of the great Tigers of all time.”
* Columbia scored four first-inning runs, belted out eight hits in the first 1 1/3 innings and breezed past Cicero-North Syracuse in a Class AA regional, 9-1. Pitcher Ian Gaule delivered three hits and three RBI, and DH Nolan Gaige added three more hits and two RBI.
* Defending state Class C champion Keio Academy edged Webutuck, 3-2, to advance to the quaretrfinals against Oyster Bay. Ace Kenta Miyoshi was brought in during the sixth inning to shut down a two-on, none-out threat. Two grounders, a strikeout and a perfect seventh wrapped up the win.
* Massapequa earned its fourth straight berth in the semifinals by downing North Babylon in Class AA, 8-3. Vinny Caesar broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the fifth inning, stole second and scored on one of Mike Mauri's three base hits.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
