Bayport-BP falls in state Class C final

CICERO, N.Y. -- The ride ended for Bayport-Blue Point, but perhaps the journey has just begun.

The Phantoms were overpowered by Cazenovia, 14-6, in Saturday's state Class C championship game at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, but they have left their mark on the school's boys lacrosse program.

"We accomplished something that no other team in Bayport history has ever accomplished,'' said senior attack Mike DeBlasio, who made it 10 goals in his final four games with two more Saturday. "This is definitely a special season. I wouldn't trade this team for any other team in the world.''

It's the one that not only will go down in history as the school's first boys lacrosse team to win a county and Long Island championship, but also as the one that coach Mike Luce said, "Hopefully helps lacrosse catch fire at Bayport. Hopefully, we can be regulars in the state tournament. It all has to start somewhere.''

The Phantoms (13-6) were outgunned from the start. Cazenovia (22-1) led 4-1 after one and 9-2 at the half. Bayport-BP, in just its ninth year of playing boys lacrosse, got no closer than 11-5 after that. The Cannizzaro brothers of Cazenovia were too much too handle. Senior Sean scored five goals with two assists and sophomore Connor scored three goals with one assist.

Junior Mason Powell, whose older brothers Mike, Ryan and Casey all starred at Syracuse University, scored three goals and Matt Donovan had four assists. The Lakers ran at will and moved the ball quickly and efficiently to open shooters the entire game.

"We knew before the game what kind of team we were facing,'' Luce said. "They beat us in all aspects of the game. They were better than we were. It's as simple as that. They were very impressive.''

Steve Kreucher scored two goals for the Phantoms and Brian Ward had two assists. Brian White and Josh Shaw also scored for Bayport.

"We came out flat and we couldn't recover,'' said DeBlasio, whose father, John, once again drove a great distance to follow the team. He interrupted a business trip in Ohio on Wednesday to drive to White Plains for the dramatic state semifinal victory. Then he drove home on Friday and back upstate Saturday morning for his son's final high school game. Clearly, Phantom fever is catching.

Luce stood and applauded as he watched his players get called up by the public address announcer to receive their runner-up medals.

"I'm disappointed, but I'm very proud of my kids,'' he said. Then pointing to the runner-up plaque, he added, "This is something that we will always have in the trophy case. The first one. In the beginning of the year, I thought it was possible, but we still had to go and do it, and win some very tight games along the way.''

"Right now, it hurts,'' the coach added, "but in a couple of days, it will sink in with the kids that this was a special season. No one but us thought we'd be here. We had a lot of heart all season. The heart was there today, but heart wasn't enough to get us through against that team.''