Class B Boys Lax Notebook
Cornhuskers Crowned Section 1 Champs for 40th Time in History
Cavallo, Embury Expose No.2 John Jay D in No.1 Yorktown’s Title Defense
Every time John Jay was successful in preventing a powerful inside roll by Yorktown senior A Justin Cavallo, which was rare, junior teammate Jamison Embury’s dashing speed burned John Jay. The Indians had little success containing either last Friday at Mahopac High School where it quickly developed into the Cavallo (5G) and Embury (4G) show as the dynamic duo’s combination of strength and speed amassed nine goals in the top-seeded Huskers’ 14-6 Section 1 Class B championship win over No.2 John Jay; what was Yorktown’s 40th title overall and seventh-straight sectional crown.
With Husker Offensive MVP Anthony Altimari (1G) dominating the X (21 of 24 faceoff wins) and affording the Huskers possession, and Defensive MVP G Louis Ragusa (8 saves) getting it done between the pipes, Yorktown’s vintage team-wide effort enabled the state-ranked (No.2) Huskers (14-4) to advance to the NYSPHSAA Class B regionals against Section 9 champion Minisink Valley at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Middletown High School. The Huskers fully expect to survive and advance to Mohonasen High School for a June 3rd playdate with the Section 2 champion – possibly No.4 Nisky or No.12 Ballston Spa — at 12:30 p.m. for the right to square off with the Long Island champion on June 7th at SUNY Albany (6:30 p.m.).
Yorktown Coach Sean Carney, in his first season as head coach, figured that Cavallo would be a tough matchup for state-ranked (No.7) John Jay (13-6), which was without the services of Duke-bound D Braden Burke, the Indians’ best all-round player, who suffered a torn ACL in the semifinals.
“Justin’s a big dude,” senior captain Kyle Casey (2G, 3A) said after his dominant effort. “With Braden Burke out, we knew it would be a mismatch no matter who they put on him. We used our size and strength to our advantage.”
It was more than just unfair, it was a mismatch the Huskers preyed upon.
“I don’t know, I’ve just been going hard at it in practice every day,” Cavallo said when pressed for comment about his career performance. “I knew this could be my last game and I didn’t want it to end here, so I just had to give it my all and that was my all. I guess I did a good job with that. We knew we had to bring our A-game against these guys and we knew we couldn’t afford a slow start. This one’s great, being a senior and all and just being able to win it for this town. It’s just awesome.”
Using mostly an inside roll, the Albany-bound Cavallo put on a clinic, lowering his shoulder and the boom in one fell swoop. Jay was at his mercy.
“He’s a four-year player who has gotten better and better each season,” Coach Carney said. “I think Burke usually covers him when he’s playing, so I’m sure they missed having him, but when Justin plays like that he’s tough to stop. Last year, part of our issue, even though we got to state finals, was beating guys one-on-one, and that issue isn’t there really now. We have matchups all over the field we like. We can invert you, we can attack and dodge from the wings, we’re setting picks all over place, there’s lot of things we can hit you with and if you can do all those things on offense things get easier and easier.”
After unranked Minisink Valley, which should be a tune-up for the Huskers, there’s nothing easy on the horizon, according to Carney, but an eighth NYS title is the one and only goal.
“There’s a lot of good teams out there,” Carney said of the state tournament. “We have players at every level across the field and that’s definitely what you want, but I’ve been watching these other teams we might play and they’re really good out on Long Island and upstate, but the boys think we can do this, that’s for sure. There’s definitely a drive for eight and the boys believe we can get that state championship. It’s right there in front of them.
“The whole town buys in,” Carney said of the 40 sectional titles. “The school and the backing we get from everyone is phenomenal. I’ve talked with other Section 1 coaches, and I tell them as soon as football season’s over it lacrosse season eight-nine months out of the year no matter what; whether it’s 8-9 o’clock in November and December or it’s 100 degrees in August, the commitment is there. People always say, ‘Well, it’s Yorktown’ but they don’t completely understand what it takes: It’s a lifestyle, and it’s my privilege to be part of it.”
Shane Dahlke and Hunter Embury each added a goal for the Huskers, who trailed 3-2 but had a 6-3 lead and momentum at the half, after getting two goals from Casey and one from Hunter Embury in a game-turning span of three minutes. The lead expanded to 8-3 when Cavallo sniped again in the third. That cushion remained the rest of the way, and Jay, which rarely had possession, was simply overmatched and fell to 1-13 in championship matches against Yorktown.
“They’re just very good,” said Jay boss Tim Schurr, a former Yorktown great himself, who’s Indians have now lost 15 games in a row to rival Yorktown. “They won the faceoffs, so they had the ball most of the time. They’re excellent. Losing Braden, our best player, was tricky, but we had other guys on the field and we could have done a little better, I think. More than anything: It just seems to me that they have their best athletes playing lacrosse. Everyone’s playing and they have a great pool of athletes to choose from and they’re very talented.”
Deep and talented, indeed, and further driven than any other boys’ program in Section 1 history… Make no mistake: Yorktown lacrosse is a living, breathing dynasty.
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
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