In Tuesday's regular-season finale, the No. 2 Boys' Latin lacrosse team showed just how ready it is for the forthcoming Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference playoffs.

But the Lakers were fine with holding off on their postseason run until next week. In fact, they were adamant about it against No.?3 St. Paul's.

It was Senior Day with added stakes, as the winner would bypass Friday's opening round, claiming the second seed and an automatic bid to Monday's semifinals.

The difference between the area's No. 2 and No. 3 teams was immense; the Lakers dominated every phase of the game from start to finish in a stunningly easy 16-6 win over the Crusaders.

Boys' Latin (13-3) closes with an 8-1 league mark and joins No. 1 and top-seeded McDonogh with opening-round byes.

St. Paul's (12-6), which had won its previous six league games, finished as the third seed with a 6-3 mark. The Crusaders host sixth-seeded and No. 6 Severn on Friday.

The Lakers particularly shined on attack. In jumping out to a 5-0 lead, they were crisp with their passes and precise with their shots. Senior Logan Wisnauskas led the dominance with a six-goal, four-assist performance, with juniors Matt Brandau (five goals, three assists) and Luke Shilling (three goals, four assists) also posting impressive numbers.

“We came out right from the get-go and took it to them,” Wisnauskas said. Coach Brian Farrell “focused on starting out strong and we did a great job of that, going up 5-0. We were playing really well, clicking on all cylinders on offense and the defense was lights out, too.”

After a goal by Wisnauskas gave the Lakers a 5-0 lead with 9:09 left in the first half, the Crusaders started winning faceoffs and looked to settle in with Mitch Gordon and Patrick Karey scoring to cut the advantage to 5-2 with 6:58 left until the break. But the Lakers closed the first-half scoring with a goal from Brandau and then opened the third quarter in much the same way they started the game, with three straight goals for a 9-3 lead that was never threatened.

“Obviously, anytime you play St. Paul's it's just another level of intensity, another level of excitement. I thought our seniors did an excellent job of starting right out of the gate and setting the tone,” Farrell said.

St. Paul's, which got two goals each from Joe Pollard and Tyler Rockhill with junior goalie Alex Rode making 10 saves, will have to quickly regroup. Coach Rick Brocato said it has to start at today's practice and carry through to Friday's game against Severn. The Crusaders won the May 3 regular-season meeting at Severn, 9-8.

“We went down there and eked one out,” he said. “They have a great group of seniors that are seasoned and this is the start of the second season. So we have to rebound from this and be ready to play a very good Severn team.”

glenn.graham@baltsun.com

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