John Jay Takes Round 1 from Somers, 9-7, in Boys Lacrosse

In some ways, it may have been just a preview of coming attractions.

But John Jay's boys lacrosse team isn't thinking about that right now.

That's because, for now, what the Indians accomplished Thursday night is pretty significant.

Led by a balanced scoring effort and strong defensive play, the Indians picked up a 9-7 win against Somers.

Yes, that's the same program that beat the Indians 14-9 in last year's Class B championship game, ending John Jay's run of four straight sectional titles. And the same school that defeated John Jay 10-7 last year during the regular season.

"I think this was big for us because of what happened last year and all the changes since then," said John Jay junior attackman Mike Daniello, who had two goals and one assist.

Among the changes – Tim Schurr is John Jay's new head coach. Schurr's appointment came after Nick Savastano was fired after 10 years as Indians head coach amid allegations of verbal abuse of players. (Savastano is now co-coach at John F. Kennedy Catholic, along with former John Jay assistant Vin Savastano, who was also relieved of his duties.)

Another big change affected Somers. For the first time in five seasons, the Tuskers were without two-time all-America attackman/midfielder JoJo Marasco, who is now a freshman at Syracuse.

Minus Marasco, Somers' offense now centers on Colgate University-bound Erik Pfiffner and Army-bound Greg Petre.

But against John Jay, Pfiffner and Petre were held scoreless by a John Jay defense led by seniors Jameson Pickel and Zach Waldman.

Schurr, known for his defensive expertise, downplayed John Jay's impressive performance against the Tuskers' top guns.

"We were aware of them," he said.

Most of the fans on hand were aware of the intriguing storyline concerning Schurr and his sons, Eddie and Kevin, who are a junior and sophomore, respectively, at John Jay.

Tim Schurr, the former head coach at Somers who served as an assistant at Briarcliff last year, was in the unfamiliar position of coaching opposite his sons.

"In summer leagues, I play against a lot of my good friends, so it wasn't a feeling I wasn't used to," Schurr said.

But this was a bit different.

"Today, before the game, they gave me the silent treatment," Schurr said.

John Jay's home crowd was pretty boisterous after the Indians (5-1) took a 4-1 lead late in the first quarter on a fastbreak goal by Evan Chen.

But Somers (1-3) quickly pulled within 4-3 early in the second quarter when senior midfielder Matt Deiana, who finished with three goals, scored 2:50 into the period.

The Indians, who led 6-4 at the half, scored the first three goals of the second half to go ahead 9-4.

But Somers made things interesting, pulling within 9-6 on Colin Tullgren's second goal of the game early in the fourth quarter before Kieran Donohue scored his second goal as well, making it 9-7. Senior goaltender Fletcher Franklin made some big saves down the stretch to preserve the win. Franklin, who played the second half, finished with 12 saves. Starter Bobby Maher, who played the first two quarters, had six saves.