Wallkill’s boys’ lacrosse team entered the Section 9, Class C tournament this week, and the Panthers sharpened their skills Tuesday, May 14 with a 12-3 rout in Hyde Park against FDR.

The Panthers kept the ball and took shot after shot while regaining possession and keeping the ball away from the Presidents. Alex Lewis, the Panther face-off guy, scored three times within a five-minute period in the first quarter as Wallkill shut out the Presidents in that period.

“We have been preaching for the past two years how important each possession is, and how it’s important that we make smart decisions with the ball,” said Alex Danon, Wallkill’s coach. “We don’t have a high powered offense, so we need to win the possession battle to score enough goals to win. The guys are starting to play with that in mind. It certainly helps to have a guy like Alex Lewis winning 82% of the face-offs, so we can maintain possession after we score or stop runs by the other team.”

Lewis scored again in the second quarter as the Panthers picked up goals from Chad Castle, Alec MacDonald, Evan Hathaway and Ty Crowley as Wallkill went into the half leading 8-1.

Lewis picked up his fifth team-leading goal in the second half, and Castle scored his second in the game. David Goll and Marc Gagliardi also scored in the second half for the Panthers.

The Panthers’ play this season has the look and feel of the teams that once punished their opponents and reached the postseason. A decline took over the program until they were 0-14 in 2017.

And then came the resurgence that has placed the Panthers in front of the pack this season with an 11-3 record.

“It’s hard to say the season hasn’t been a success. But I think we could have and should have won two of the games we lost, so there is always room for improvement,” said Danon. “Our best success so far is seeing a bunch of young guys put in big spots and how they have grown and performed.”