Akron stickmen top Medina for Class D title

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Christian Silversmith works to get away from Akron defender Weylon Abrams during the Mustangs loss to the Tigers in the Section VI Class D championship game this afternoon at Williamsville North.

Jumping out to a four goal first quarter lead, top seeded defending champion Akron was never headed in rolling to a 15-3 victory over No. 2 Medina in the Section VI Class D lacrosse championship game this afternoon at Williamsville North.

Owen Hill and Donovan Nephew each scored 4 goals, Kaleb Delaney 3 and Nelson Logan 2 to spearhead the Akron attack on the sizzling 90 degree plus afternoon.

Akron’s Donovan Nephew fires a shot on goal as Bobby Geiger defends for Medina. Akron’s Dylan Nicometi watches the shot.

Mason Lewis, Brendan Luthart and Zach Blount each scored a goal for Medina which had dropped a pair of narrow overtime decisions (15-14, 20-19) to Akron during the regular season.

Akron jumped out to a lighting quick 2-0 lead at the outset on goals by Nephew and Hill.

Medina though answered right back with tallies by Lewis and Luthart just 27 seconds apart to quickly knot the score at 2-2 before the contest was three minutes old.

However, Akron answered the challenge with consecutive goals by Nephew, Delaney and a pair by Logan to regain the lead for good at 6-2 at the end of the period.

Medina did cut the deficit a bit to 6-3 on Blount’s goal with 4:52 to go in the second quarter but the Mustangs could not find the net again.

The Tigers answered with a burst of three goals over the next two minutes by Weylon Abrams, Hill and Millard Young, to extend the lead to 9-3 at the half.

Akron maintained a commanding 11-3 lead at the three-quarter mark after third period tallies by Logan and Nephew.

The Tigers then capped off the win and a return trip to the state playoffs by outscoring the Mustangs 4-0 in the final stanza, including 2 by Hill.

Akron will next face the Section V Class D champion Penn Yan in the Far West Regional on Saturday at Buffalo’s All High Stadium.

Medina’s Brendan Luthart looks to work the ball up field against Akron defender Keenan Ninham.