Farmingdale advances to state final

WHITE PLAINS -- On a day when the temperature hovered near 100 degrees, forcing the boys' state semifinal playoff games to be pushed back an hour and for water breaks mandated every six minutes, Farmingdale had the hot hand. Make that a fistful of hot hands.

Korey Hendrickson, Greg Catalano and Mike Perettine each scored a hat trick as the Dalers used a scorched turf policy to defeat Shenendehowa, 14-10, Wednesday in the Class A boys lacrosse semifinals at White Plains High School.

"Every time you moved, you were sweating. It was insanely hot," Hendrickson said. He was referring to the weather but his description also applied to the Dalers' offense. The Long Island Class A champions came out blazing, scoring three goals in the first 3:20 -- by Catalano, Hendrickson and Perettine -- and led 6-2 after the first quarter and 9-5 at halftime.

"I've never played in anything like this," said Sal Tuttle, who scored two goals and added three assists. "But our mentality was to score early and fast. I think we wore them out. They were definitely dead towards the end of the game."

Farmingdale's five-prong offense also included Brian Prendergast, who had two goals. Additionally, for the second game in a row, defenseman Joe Ostrander took it coast-to-coast for an unassisted gem that helped build an early lead. The Dalers run a basketball-like fast break, filling the lanes quickly and moving the ball with several players getting touches on nearly every possession.

"That's how we play. We love to push the ball and get up and down the field," Hendrickson said. "We love to dodge and get it to the open man. Everyone is allowed to shoot."

That green-light, pedal-to-the-metal approach helped Farmingdale (16-4) build a 12-5 lead early in the third quarter. Then the combination of the heat and the coaching staff's intent to milk some clock put Farmingdale's offense in a deep freeze. That might've been welcome to spectators, but it turned the Dalers' shooting hands cold.

SEE PHOTOSClass A state semis: Farmingdale 14, Shenendehowa 10

With Brett Bernardo (five goals) leading the way, Shenendehowa crept back into the game with a sizzling spurt of its own spanning the third and fourth quarters. The Plainsmen (19-2) scored four straight goals to cut the deficit to 12-9 with 5:32 left. But Perettine scored on a reverse dodge 30 seconds later and Tuttle nailed it down with his second goal on a feed from Hendrickson with 4:00 left.

"We just don't play well when we don't play fast," veteran coach Bob Hartranft said. "We knew we'd get tired playing that pace, but hopefully they'd get tired, too."

Hartranft has the Dalers in the state championship game for the first time since 2002. They'll face Ithaca on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Cicero High School in North Syracuse.

For all of Hartranft's success -- 653 career victories -- he never has won a state championship.

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"I don't even want to think about that," he said. "It's not about me. It's about the kids."