Though it was still an early-season contest, Tuesday night's boys lacrosse game between Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse carried post-season intensity and emotion.
A lot of it had to do with the rivalry the Warriors and Northstars have always shared, but some of it was the knowledge that the winner here could have an upper hand in the race for eventual area Class A supremacy.
Liverpool would get that upper hand, taking charge of the game early in the fourth quarter and prevailing 13-10, handing C-NS its first defeat after it had started the season 4-0.
They entered the final period tied 8-8, but in a 39-second span the Warriors went in front for good thanks to back-to-back goals from Colin Gridley and Owen Michaud.
It helped Liverpool that C-NS, throughout the second half, committed penalties that led to constant man-up situations. The Warriors took advantage, doubling its margin to 12-8 as Brady Michaud scored a man up and Gavin Kenna converted, too.
Though C-NS closed the gap to 12-10 with goals from Adrian Sweeney and Rocco Villano, Gridley answered with 2:39 to play, and that proved the last goal of the night.
Both teams had made runs in the first half, Liverpool jumping out to a 4-0 advantage, C-NS battling back, especially in a 90-second stretch late in the second quarter.
Down 5-2, Peyton Long cut the margin to two. Then, less than seven seconds apart, Sweeney converted and Emmit Porter took the ensuing faceoff, went straight up the middle and put it past Owen Salanger.
Flush with momentum, C-NS tacked on two more goals early in the third quarter to go up 7-5, and later gained a 9-8 advantage. Both times, Liverpool fought back, tying it up and setting up its fourth-quarter push.
Gridley, Brady Michaud and Owen Michaud each finished with three goals, Owen adding four assists to equal Dom Osbeck as freshman Chris Mattot got a pair of third-period goals.
Sweeney continued his impressive campaign, finishing with five goals, but of his teammates, only Villano found the net twice, Cy Liberman adding three assists. They took the same number of shots, but Salanger had 15 saves to the 12 for C-NS counterpart Leyton Sullivan. The two sides will meet again May 2 at LHS Stadium.
