HOWEVER YOU'VE SAID YOURSELF AT TIMES THAT THIS SEASON INVOLVES "WHO SHOWS UP" SO EVEN IF THERE IS A DECENT GAP IN GOALS NOT SURE THAT IF THEY PLAYED AGAIN 2 DAYS LATER THAT THE FRI LOSER COULD VERY WELL WIN BY THE SAME OR GREATER GAP!!

EXAMPLE ALTHOUGH RYE RECOVERED BIG TIME IN 2ND HALF VS MAMAR THEY LOOKED TERRIBLE IN 1ST HALF AND SCORE COULD HAVE BEEN BIGGER THEN 5-4 MAMAR AT HALF. "WHAT RYE TEAM WAS PLAYING IN 1ST HALF?

JUST AS RYE BEAT JJ BREWSTER HAS A CHANCE AS WELL IF JJ DOESN'T "SHOW UP". TO LESSER DEGREE SAME FOR JJ PLAYING HH. TOWN "MUST SHOW UP" FOR LP, OTHERWISE POSSIBLE TO LOSE THE WAY LP HAS BEEN PLAYING.

I'm not sure of the exact date of my post but I did say—I remember pretty clearly—"Right now, Yorktown by 4." I didn't want to commit. I also believe that prediction came right after Yorktown handled the two CHSAA powers and Jay lost to St. Anthony's. I said "right now" because I may bounce from one point to another but I've consistently said this season (from a Yorktown perspective because I don't actively follow John Jay but of course know who they are and what they've done in recent years) that every Town season is a "work in progress."

I'll admit, since making that "by 4" statement it's been a roller coaster of a season with both teams running the full gamut of emotions and results. That loose prediction was worded ambiguously because you just don't know in April what you'll know for certain around 9:45 p.m. on May 16.

You can always tell how fickle the lacrosse fan in our area is by looking at the polls Joe & Co. put up on the homepage.

• Yorktown beats St. Anthony's and Chaminade and Jay loses to St. Anthony's. OK … the bulk of the poll votes had Yorktown beating Jay.

• Yorktown gets hammered by Ward Melville and Darien and Jay beats Duxbury and Corning East and the poll votes go dramatically in the other direction.

• Jay loses to Rye and suddenly Town is in the driver's seat.

• Jay plays like world beaters and the votes and opinions swing back to Jay by two or more, like back in April.

I needed to actually see Jay play. I needed to put the hype, names and scores aside and see for myself because I have seen Yorktown on numerous occasions. And what I saw Saturday was basically a team executing as well and looking as good as any team I've ever seen play a single game. Now, whether Comeswogue being not even close to the level of their hype coming in may have contributed to Jay's lopsided win, but in all honesty I can't imagine Jay losing to basically anyone with the way they performed on Saturday.

However, as I noted and most of you saw or read about, Yorktown was incredibly impressive on Saturday in its own right. Again, back to "work in progress." Traditionally, as everyone knows, Town turns their level of play up a notch come May 1. I think I have consistently stated that as well.

So what this boils down to is this:

I fully expect both teams to play a whale of a game come Friday night. And if one of them wins "by 4" or "by 2 or more" then there will be NO doubt who the better team is. None of this, "well Jay would win 9 out of 10 times" nonsense or "Town got jobbed by refs" stuff or one was "flat," "left their game on the bus," and "so-and-so didn't play or was injured" blabbering (just to use examples of previous rationales used on this board for losses by teams) will be acceptable.

Both teams have something to prove, but in my estimation … considering Yorktown's penchant for Jekyll-and-Hyde performances, if the Huskers do not come out with a purpose Friday, Jay will win because I can't imagine Jay having a letdown in its next game after such a performance against Comeswogue against a Yorktown. Against someone else in the section possibly, but not in a game of this magnitude.

There's no way I'm making a prediction, mostly because there's no way to know what will happen. But there are a lot of criteria that must be met on both sides for either to win. No one will dominate. There will be no lopsided score.

But I fully expect this to be the game we check off in future polls when asked what was the greatest game in Section I history.

I should have been clearer, Granelli DOES play attack (hard to miss him out there), that's why my post was concerning college, since he was a middie in the past.

Dooley's, as usual, did the stand-up thing last night and played their seniors who don't usually get alot of game minutes – putting them in early and late in the game, giving them their last opportunity to play "under the lights". Class act (and they played well!).

Joe – what are the "games of the week" in your opinion? (without stating the obvious!!!!!)

what was different tonight on the offensive front against Comsewogue that enabled jay to be so successful?

my feeling is this: jay has all the talent in the world, yet until tonight they have shown no real offensive poise. Their offense has been stagnant and they have relied on 1 on 1 match-ups with Drew and Bocklet to win games, but as we have seen in each of their losses this season, is that as the competition gets better, this is not a successful game plan. So what was different tonight? The answer is that Comsewogue was in a zone defense for much of the first half forcing the Jay offense into a team offense (the 3-3). And as we saw tonight, they were successful. Great ball movement, off-ball cuts, and unselfish play, were all the results. So the question going forth has to be how to incorporate this team styled offense against man to man defenses. Now to be honest, i don't know how exactly to do that, but all that i know is when I was up at the Fall beach blast tournament watching West Genny, they sure did know how to. They had 10 solid players who all bought into an offensive package and it worked. Now imagine with all the talent Jay has what the results could be? But this needs to come from the coaches and im not sure thats going to happen.

Syracuse – you previously mentioned that Town would beat Jay by 4 or 5? goals. After watching Jay today, and knowing that both Jay and Town will be playing their hearts out next Friday, are you still prediciting Town by 5? It is a tough call, Town at home this year, however, if the Jay team that played today shows up, it will be an all out war!

John Jay 16, Comsewogue 4
Comsewogue (10-4) 1 0 1 2 — 4
John Jay (9-4) 3 3 3 0 — 9
Goals — C: Alex Zomerfeld, Joe Papu, Tom Clearly, John Dechiro; JJ: Chris Bocklet 4, Harrison Jones 3, Billy LaPerch 3, Tyler Granelli 2, Will Stewart, Mike Malara, Brian Murphy, Tom Cylenica. Assists — C: Rich Lunghi; JJ: Granelli 5, Kevin Drew 4, Jones, LaPerch, Stewart, William O’Donnell. Saves — C: Dominick Santangelo 7; JJ: Chris Latino 7, Dylan Lalone 5, Robert Maher 2.

Your comment that "this wole season is hard to figure out" is becoming a tremendous understatement!!!

Just "WHO" is going to "show up" continues to be the mantra of the season!

I agree with Syracuse, I don't know how they lost any games if they played like they did tonight.

Can't wait til Friday with Jay at Town, looking forward to a great game!

Definately not intended to diminish Rye or Nisky, a loss is a loss, no excuses. Just saw a Jay team tonight that has a swagger about them that I haven't seen all year, and the game to back it up. Then you see Nisky beat HH by 3, and it's just tough to figure this Jay team out. This whole season is tough to figure out.

The other thing I took away from the game tonight is that I would give Tyler Granelli a shot at attack in college, I think with his size and skills he might be better suited to attack than middie, IMHO.

Town's win was very good as well. They won pretty soundly over a good wilton team.

Both wins should make the J/Town game even more competitive if these teams can play as well as they did tonite

Mamar outplayed Rye on both D and O during the first half. Mamar really looked good! Frustrating as rye controlled vast majority of face-offs but were not getting that many good shot openings, gave up the ball, etc. Dooley who usually takes the team off to the side during halftime marched them across the field into the locker room and one can only imagine what he told them! Rye came out roaring controlling the ball for vast majority 3Q/4Q. Offense moving ball better, getting more free shots and making lots of them. Started substituting after few minute into 4Q. First half frustrating (again credit to Mamar). Hopefully they've left that kind of half behind them. Gonna need 2 good halves to have decent shot to have a good run in playoffs.

Hey congrats to Hen Hud for a close one vs Nisky and other close ones vs Rye and Wantaugh. Have definately established themselves as being a tough win!

LP win as well!

Good day for Sect 1

I agree 1 million percent with Goo. After seeing Jay tonight, I honestly cannot believe they have 1 loss, let alone 4.

There's no doubt in my mind now that of the three likely Section I champions, Yorktown will face the most daunting task in the state tournament. Jay impressed the crap out of me tonight. Rye has been impressing me for several years now.

To be fair to the Huskers, they are putting their game into a higher gear these days, so who really knows what they are capable of?

If you can go to Hofstra in June, GO! You may be in for a real treat.

There, I state the obvious.

Hate to be Capt. Obvious here, but what this game shows (and I spoke to Joe about it earlier) is we just don't know how these games will play out until they actually are played. After watching Jay tonight I don't quite know what to make of them going forward.

Are they very good? Yes.

Is Comeswogue overrated? Yes.

Did Jay make Comeswogue look overrated? I don't know.

I don't think Comeswogue would have beaten any of the top 5 or maybe 6 teams in Section I. It was 7-0 before Comeswogue even got a possession.

Again, Jay moved the ball brilliantly. Tyler Granelli was a beast in the first quarter. He basically won six straight faceoffs and it was 6-0 moments later.

If, however, Comeswogue is one of the best teams Class B on Long Island has to offer, and say they lose a close game to a Rocky Point in their sectional final or to Garden City or Lynbrook in the Long Island championship, I will say right here and now two things.

1. John Jay is light years ahead of these teams

2. Section I as a whole can hang with the best Long Island has regardless of class. Ward Melville and West Islip are still the best teams of the bunch, but after that the dropoff is significant, like back in the 1980s when there was Yorktown and then no one and THEN the rest of the section.

Comeswogue was a tiny team. Jay towered over them. Jay was faster, better skilled, more aggressive, better in net … the list goes on and on. Jay put pressure on Comeswogue on the perimeter and they threw the ball away like it was the first day of practice in March.

"Powers" don't do this. I don't care who the opponent is, what type of field the game is played on or the time of the season it is played. Good teams don't look like Comeswogue.

That raises the issue of whether Jay just totally blew their doors off and shellshocked them out of this game.

Nah. Jay is just 10 times better. Case closed.

Look for Long Island B scores going forward and remember this was the night Jay served noticed to the Class B state that they are very much better than probably 99.999 percent of the teams out there.

Word.

Fox Lane 14, Barlow (CT) 6: Despite an early 0-3 deficient in the first two minutes, the Foxes rallied with an 11-0 run, keeping Barlow at bay until the third quarter. Pat Johnson led the Foxes with five goals and an assist.

Peekskill 13, Croton-Harmon 7: Darius Doway had six goals. Giuseppe Rice added three goals and two assists. David Pojman had three goals and an assist for the Tigers.

Suffern 11, Saratoga Springs 3: Steve Matthews had four goals and an assist for the Mounties at Dietz Stadium in Kingston.

Edgemont 11, Eastchester 3: Josh Eidelberg had six goals and one assist. Ben Kantor added two goals. Jeff Young had two goals for the Eagles.

Clarkstown South 14, Clarkstown North 3: Tom Riley scored four goals. Alex Gioseffi had a goal and an assist for the Rams.

And maybe that Rye-Hen Hud game wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. Looks like Hen Hud has figured it out.

Jay leads 13-1 at the half. no isos. All team
goals. This is the best i have ever seen jay look. I also think
comeswogue is at best a middle of the road section 1 team. If this is
what the island has to offer in B jay could win a state title.

Keith Rodriguez had 5-0 and Jack Doherty 3-3 for the Rebels, who led 8-0 after one quarter.

Briarcliff 9, Pleasantville 8, OT: Matthew Levy scored the winning goal with 42 seconds remaining in overtime as the Bears defeated their neighboring rival for their 12th straight win. Briarcliff’s Eric Brandel forced overtime with three seconds remaining in regulation. Pleasantville’s Zach Colangelo had a hat trick.

Byram Hills 11, Queensbury 7: R.J. Medeo and Scott Fraser each had two goals and two assists.

Last year's team against last year's Panther's? No way…but of course I could envision this team beating p'ville…do you not recall my blogs in the off-season? Besides, haven't you been the one talking about parity? It's here…

Briarcliff has now won 12 straight.

Hen Hud, meanwhile, has played some real good teams very tough, including Rye and Wantagh as well as Nisky.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen either the Bears or Sailors in person this year, but the number of games I've been able to attend this season has been reduced dramatically because of my duties as local sports editor.

It should be noted we have had reporters at both Hen Hud and Briarcliff games this season.

but boys…we ain't done yet!!!

Yorktown 17, Wilton 10
Wilton (8-6) 1 2 5 2 —10
Yorktown (11-3) 7 6 1 3 —17
Goals — W: Peter Johnson 4, Peter McMahon 3, Vinnie Cannon, Matt Dunn, Mike Ferrara; Yk: Rocky Bonitatibus 6, Brendan Kurpis 3, John Froats 3, Kevin Interlicchio 3, John Ranagan, Liam McCarthy. Assists — W: McMahon 3, Johnson, Cannon, Harrison Hess; Yk: Kurpis 3, Interlicchio 3, Remy Lieberman 2, Rocky Bonitatibus, Thomas Casey 2. Saves — W: James Fuller 11; Yk: Michael Bonitatibus 16.

GO BEARS!

Rocky B. had a career-high six goals and one assist. Kevin Interlicchio and Brendan Kurpis 3-3 and John Froats 3-0.

Mike B. 16 saves in goal.

For Wilton, Peter Johnson had 4-1, Peter McMahon 3-3. Vinnie Cannon, Matt Dunn and Mike Ferrara each scored once.

It's now 9-2 with five minutes left in the second.

Yorktown 9, Wilton 7
John Jay 10, Comeswogue 8

I'll try to post updates, but due to factors way beyond my control I cannot attend Yorktown-Wilton, which blows considering today is, after all, Saturday, and most human beings actually have lives on weekends.

I assume Joe or Jeff will be at the game, but I'll shoot along updates if I get them.

Good luck to all Section I teams today.