CAMILLUS - Usually, games between the Marcellus and Skaneateles boys soccer teams seem as though the first team to slip in a goal will emerge victorious. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the Mustangs not only scored first, but last as well in their 2-1 Section III, Class B finals win at West Genesee High School on Tuesday.

Even though the No. 5 Lakers were the defending sectional champions and handed Marcellus its only loss of the season, it was the second-seeded Mustangs that seemed to have the momentum throughout the game.

For the first 31:32, the game was a stalemate. Both defenses were stout, and neither the Mustangs nor the Lakers were able to get off many shots. It was one of the craziest ones, though, that resulted in Marcellus' first score.

With 8:28 left in the first half, Mustangs senior Keith White belted the ball off the Lakers' right goal post and two seconds later, Jon Schoonmaker took advantage of the chaos in front of the net to sink the ball into the left corner of the net, just out of Skaneateles goalie Jake Bird's reach. Bird earned three of his five total saves in the first half.

“Jake Bird was outstanding,” Lakers head coach Kirk Atwater said. “He made save after save after save today. He was phenomenal. The kids are a bit disappointed, but they have everything to be proud of right now, they played a great game.”

Skaneateles came storming out in the second half, pelting Jon Quick with shots. Bryan Stokes-Cawley scored on a slow roller with 34:30 left in the game.

“I thought we played a better second half than we did the first,” Atwater said. “I thought we possessed the ball well, I thought Marcellus possessed the ball well. When it's Marcellus-Skaneateles, you can't ask for anything better between the two programs.”

More than five minutes later, White finally sunk a shot into the net for the Mustangs, putting the ball in the lower right corner on a penalty kick to eventually give his team the win.

Skaneateles had two chances to tie the score in the final two minutes, but a Lakers' free kick resulted in a Marcellus turnover and with 23 seconds left, a Mark Cannucciari header sailed over the goal.

“It was a great game. Marcellus is the champion,” Atwater said. “Our kids played tough and I'm very proud of them. They've had a very good season. Marcellus played well and we played a great game, we just came up a little bit short, but I'm very proud - it's been a privilege to coach these guys.”

The Mustangs (16-1-1) lost to the Lakers 3-1 on Oct. 1 and had to settle for a tie earlier in the season in Marcellus, when the school's lights went out and since there were 23 minutes left in the game, state rules specify that the game cannot be resumed after a delay.

“It took us a long time to get good enough to (beat Skaneateles),” Mustangs head coach Jennifer Griffin said. “Honestly, we weren't good enough until two or three weeks ago. We played poorly in the second game - we hadn't built our attack to what it needed to be. And on (West Genesee's) surface, we play much better than on grass. (In Skaneateles), it was a wet, spongy field and it's small. This place is our game, much more than that place was. I think those factors - we got much better, we got on our surface, we got healthy and we trained hard. They've taken the coaching and worked it on the field.”

Skaneateles finishes its season 15-4-1. The Lakers outshot the Mustangs 12-10, but Marcellus had the edge in corner kicks 9-4. Quick finished the game with eight saves.

“We had some momentum going, we almost knocked a few in there,” Atwater said. “We came out and played in the second half. You could see that on the field.”

Mustangs 2

Lakers 1