Lake Placid’s Abbey Light, right, carries the ball during a home game against Plattsburgh on April 16. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — After having its first game postponed, the Lake Placid girls flag football team competed for the first-time ever at the North Elba Show Grounds on April 16. The Blue Bombers lost its inaugural home opener to the Plattsburgh Hornets 19-7.

Despite having never played a down of flag football this season, the Lake Placid squad competed until the very end. The Hornets used a solid running attack, while stopping the Blue Bombers twice near the goal line to claim their second win of the season, improving to 2-1. The loss dropped Lake Placid’s overall record to 0-1.

“We knew that this was going to be a learning curve and we all knew that learned quite a bit, I was really proud with their effort,” Blue Bombers head coach Tammy Morgan said. “They were in it, and they were competitive.”

The Lake Placid girls flag football team was created last month after the Lake Placid Central School District Board of Education voted to approve the program, joining 12 other Section VII schools with similar programs.

The Blue Bombers squad fields more than 17 girls, some of whom play exclusively flag football, while most are dual athletes participating in another spring sports in addition to flag football. Some schools within Section VII — such as Saranac Lake — have made girls flag football a primary sport, meaning the athletes have to pick either flag football or another spring sport.

Lake Placid’s Olivia Skutt, left, stips the flag from a Plattsburgh player during Monday’s game in Lake Placid.(News photo — Parker O’Brien)

On April 16, Plattsburgh jumped out to a 7-0 edge at halftime, and opened up the second half with a quick touchdown march, from its quarterback, Myasia Do, who ran 9 yards for the score. But, the Hornets were unable to convert the point after attempt, making the score 13-0.

After getting the ball back, the Blue Bombers responded with its first-ever touchdown when quarterback Anisa Cecunjanin found a wide-open Eliza Fitzsimmons, trailing behind the Plattsburgh defense. After the speedy freshman caught the ball, she darted 60 yards without being touched.

“It was the first in history for my team,” Fitzsimmons said.

Morgan said that Fitzsimmons is one of the youngest players on the team and while Lake Placid students just returned back from a two-week-long spring break, she was one of the few players who showed up to voluntary practices over the break.

“A lot of these girls have been gone for two weeks on a two-week break,” she said. “It’s been tough trying to bring it back together after two weeks off, but Eliza has been here the whole break and she’s been really excited and working with Anisa and that’s something that came from a lot of hard work.”

Lake Placid’s Anisa Cecunjanin makes contact during a home game against Willsboro on April 15.(News photo — Parker O’Brien)

After the touchdown, Lake Placid’s senior back Nadia Philip rushed in for the one-point conversion to make the score 13-7 with more than 17 minutes left in the game.

Both teams’ defenses stepped up, holding each other to back-to-back three and out punts. Morgan said it was the first time that her squad had ever matched up against another team, so it took a bit of time to figure out what to do defensively.

“But we know what to do to work out the kinks,” she said. “They each learned an awful lot about positioning (Tuesday), which was tough to do before we got on the field. This is the first time, we’ve been on a field that was lined.”

While leading 13-7, Plattsburgh extended its lead with around 7 minutes left in the final half when Jania Young ran 8 yards for her second touchdown of the game. After dropping the snap on the one-point conversion attempt the score remained 19-7.

With a few minutes remaining, the Blue Bombers narrowly scored its second touchdown of the contest after driving to about 7 yards outside the end zone. On first down, Cecunjanin pass attempt was turned away and after back-to-back run plays failed, the Hornets came away with a big sack on fourth down to keep Lake Placid out of the end zone.

Young led her team with two rushing touchdowns — one in each half. Do scored one rushing touchdown for Plattsburgh and ran in a one-point conversion. Do also recorded the lone interception in the game early in the first half.

Cecunjanin led the Blue Bombers on the ground, while more than six other players from Lake Placid recorded at least one carry.

“I’m proud of the way that they all came together and there was a lot of positive energy out there,” Morgan said. “Don’t count (Lake Placid) out yet. There was a lot of good stuff.”

Keene 32, Ticonderoga 0

The Keene girls flag football team opened the season with a 32-0 road victory over the Ticonderoga Sentinels on April 10.

Molly Riggins threw four touchdowns and caught one, helping the Beavers earn their first win of the season. Lily Jones hauled in three receiving touchdowns, while Addi Van Ness had two scores — a passing and a receiving touchdown. Riggins and Vivian Smith recorded one extra point in the win.

After taking a 12-0 lead in the opening half, Keene came out of the intermission by scoring 20 straight points. The Beavers’ defense shut down Ticonderoga’s offense, recording three interceptions from Jones, Smith and Liana Shambo.

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LACROSSE

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SLP 11, Malone 2

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SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Placid boys lacrosse team earned its first win of the season on Monday, April 15 with an 11-2 victory over the Malone Huskies 11-2 at Schroeter’s Field in Saranac Lake.

The game was not only SLP’s first home contest of the season, but it was also the program’s first since 2019. Saranac Lake and Lake Placid merged under the name SLP in 2019, and that inaugural squad lost all 14 games, making Monday’s win the first-ever for the SLP boys.

The boys lacrosse program was dropped after the 2019 season due to a lack of players. While there has a been a modified program for the past few years, the varsity program was revived this season.

SLP struggled in its first two games of the season, suffering back-to-back losses to Salmon River and Massena. But on Monday the boys dominated from start to finish, despite having come off a two-week-long spring break.

“It was nice to play even though most of our kids were in Florida or somewhere else the last two weeks,” SLP boys lacrosse head coach Kris Miemis said. “We did run practices in the second week, but there were only about eight or nine kids. It’s nice to put things together, but I think that kind of explains some our rustiness on where we need to be and how the field operates.”

SLP found themselves in a tightly-contested battle, clinging onto a 5-2 lead in the early stages of the first half. SLP took full control of the contest right before the intermission when the team buried three straight goals. In the second half, SLP shutout its opponents and netted three goals.

Sophomores Lukas Miemis and Scottie Nicholas each recorded a hat trick in the win. Fellow sophomore Caleb Wylie added two goals, while senior Kellan Duffy, senior Owen Muncil and sophomore Gerald Woodruff had one goal each. Muncil tallied two assists. Duffy, Miemis, Woodruff, sophomore Chris Martin and sophomore Mason Stoddard chipped in with one assist.

SLP’s goaltender, Charlie Wilson, a sophomore, had a solid outing. He recorded four saves and earned his first varsity win.

“Charlie is so strong in goal,” Kris Miemis said. “It takes something else to be a goalie in lacrosse. He always stands tall and he made way better decisions today than he did the last two games, so that was nice to see.”

Kris Miemis said the win was big for his young team, which fields 16 sophomores and just six total seniors and juniors.

“I think it gives us some optimism and it gives us some confidence going into the next games, which probably are going to be a little more competitive,” Kris Miemis said.

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SOFTBALL

Willsboro 31, Lake Placid 15

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LAKE PLACID — After returning from a two-week spring break on April 15 the Lake Placid softball team suffered a 31-15 home loss to the Willsboro Warriors.

The Warriors scored at least two runs in every inning to cruise to their second win of the season. Willsboro previously topped Wells 12-2 on April 10.

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in first at-bat. The Blue Bombers responded with a five runs in the bottom of the first inning, but Willsboro reclaimed the lead in the second with six runs and never let up.

Despite falling, Lake Placid rattled off seven more hits than the Warriors. However, fielding errors and walks from the Blue Bomber defense helped the visitors earn the victory.

Lake Placid had 12 hits in the game, while four players — Briar Beaney, Anisa Cecunjanin, Lili Draper and Willow Wood — recorded multiple hits for the Blue Bombers. Beaney recorded the lone extra-base hit in the game, with a double in the second inning.

Lake Placid’s Brooke Beaney, Kyra Jordon, Emma Lawrence and Abbey Light had one hit each. Willsboro’s Emma Jacques and Laney Nolette combined for four of their team’s five hits and Laci Nolette had one hit.

Sarah Gibson threw a complete game and earned the pitching win for the Warriors. Wood took the loss in the pitchers’ circle for the Blue Bombers, recording six strikeouts. Reid Pedu replaced Wood in the fourth inning, earning four strikeouts.

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TENNIS

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Boys

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Lake Placid 4, Saranac Central 1

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Girls

Saranac Central 5, Lake Placid 0

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The Lake Placid tennis teams split on the road April 15 against the Saranac Central Spartans. The Blue Bomber boys posted a 4-1 victory, while the Lake Placid girls squad fell 5-0.

The Blue Bomber boys earned two singles wins from Henry Becker and Soren Jacobson. Becker defeated Josh Gaboriault by scores of 6-4, 6-4 and Jacobson beat Jaedon Spear by scores of 6-1, 6-2.

In doubles, Lake Placid’s Nash Carlisto and Parker Scanio topped Dale Lavarnway and Logan Catton 6-2, 7-5. The Blue Bombers’ duo of Owen Keal and Porter Dominesey pulled out a close doubles match win against Asher Girard and Isaac Couture by scores of 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-1. Lake Placid’s Colden Damour and Ian Munson lost to Keith Poulin and Alex Mehrman 6-0, 6-4.

On the girls side, Taya Wood defeated Lake Placid’s Sydney Garrison 6-1, 6-2 and the Blue Bomber’s Jennifer Giroux was topped by Madyson Tripp 6-2, 6-2. Lake Placid’s doubles pairing of Jenna Audlin and Kayden Glascock lost to Calleigh Bryette and Page Bassett 6-0, 6-3, Nadia Philip and Raquel Arreaza were topped by Emma O’Hara and Sabrina Cruz 6-2, 6-2 and the third doubles team of Dana Perez and Sophie Spanburgh lost to Emma Trudeau and Hannah Steenberge 6-0, 6-4.

Lake Placid girls tennis head coach Jon Fremante said his team showed some areas of where they need to improve in their first match of the season. He added that the Saranac Central players showed consistency in their play, while his squad showed signs of solid play throughout the matches.