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BY JAMES A. ELLIS
AMSTERDAM — When Amsterdam/Broadalbin-Perth eighth-grader Logan Zabielski scored 24 seconds into Thursday’s lacrosse match against South Glens Falls, it sent a positive vibe through the entire squad.
However, it did not take long for the Foothills Council-leading Bulldogs to find their rhythm and answered with three goals in a span of 22 seconds to take control of the match and pull off a dominating 21-2 victory on the turf at the Lynch Literacy Academy.
“We usually get out quick,” South Glens Falls coach Matthew Germain said. “That is the makeup of this team, the leadership. We have 10 seniors, and the senior leadership on this team knows it is only one goal and they are going to go get the next one.”
Following Zabielski’s goal, South High tied the game with 8:45 left in the opening quarter on Ashton Humphries’ goal. Six seconds later, Jack Walter connected to put the Bulldogs ahead before Dylan DiCaprio connected for his first of four goals in the first half to take a 3-1 advantage.
The Bulldogs kept rolling to finish the first quarter with a 7-1 advantage before stretching their lead to 13-1 at the half.
South High continued to string passes together and took advantage of winning ground balls and faceoffs throughout the second half.
The Rams put a second goal on the board in the third quarter when Santino Carbone scooped up a ground ball and fired the ball into the back of the net to put the score at 18-2 at the end of the third period.
South High tacked on three more goals in the fourth quarter to close out the win.
“That was probably the best 48 minutes of lacrosse we have put together all season,” Germain said. “I don’t think we have put together a complete game, but we did tonight. These guys have been together since the youth program. When the guys have a lot of experience and put it together as seniors, it helps. It puts things in motion. Amsterdam is better than the score showed. They have put together a good program here and their boys came out ready to play.”
DiCaprio finished the game with eight goals and three assists for the Bulldogs, while Walter had five goals and four assists to go with two goals apiece from Hudson Delisle, Peyton Viger, Humphries and Bryce Comstock.
“We made some adjustments on our team and now have two eighth graders and one of them, Logan Zabielski, scored,” Amsterdam/B-P coach James Natole said. “It is really exciting to see what he has been doing for us. Our other eighth grader, Eliel Alema Rivera, and our ninth grader, Santino Carbone, have been stepping up for us on attack.”
Goalie Cody Hamm collected 19 saves.
“South Glens Falls is outstanding, and they are leading the Foothills right now,” Natole said. “They are great all around the board. We have to step up to compete with them. I say it every game, I love what my goalie does. Cody Hamm steps in and takes every beating that he has to and does his job every single day.”
Germain said that he hopes to carry the momentum over into a big week ahead when the Bulldogs put their undefeated Foothills Council record on the line against Schuylerville and face undefeated Stillwater in a non-league showdown.
“Thursday will be the league finale, and basically it will be winner-take-all and it is at Schuylerville, under the lights and on senior night,” Germain said. “We need to be ready to go.”
Amsterdam/B-P will make the trek north to play Glens Falls on Tuesday.
“We are coming out to compete every game and keep it going from the coaching staff down to the players,” Natole said. “We are invested in what we are doing.”
South Glens Falls 7 6 5 3 — 21
Amsterdam/B-P 1 0 1 0 — 2
South Glens Falls scoring: DiCaprio 8-3, Delisle 2-4, Walter 5-4, Viger 2-4, Mallette 0-1, Cooper 0-1, Willis 0-2, Maziejka 1-0, Humphries 2-0, Comstock 2-0, Lary 1-0.
Amsterdam scoring: Zabielski 1-0, Carbone 1-0. Goalies: South Glens Falls, Dennis 4 saves; Mahoney, 0 saves. Amsterdam, Hamm, 19 saves.
