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Somers junior Colin Tullgren (top) had four goals and two assists in the Tuskers’ big win today at Horace Greeley. Classmate Cole Partenza (below) scored twice. (Photos by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)

The talk grew louder and louder just a few days ago.

That’s when Somers pulled out a 10-7 win over four-time defending Section 1 Class B champ John Jay (in a game in which John Jay outshot the Tuskers by  wide margin).

That came a few hours after Horace Greeley battled back from an six-goal deficit to pull within two goals of Yorktown.

Then yesterday, Hen Hud, which has had its share of struggles this season, beat four-time Class C sectional titlist Rye.

Those scores and surprises brought an almost universal refrain: Class B is so wide open this year.

But after the type of performance displayed by Somers today in a 15-8 win over Horace Greeley, there may now be just as many people who believe the Tuskers are clearly the team to beat.

That’s how impressive Somers was today.

“We’ve been working really hard in practice,” junior attackman/midfielder Colin Tullgren said. “We viewed this as the biggest game of the season and we knew we had to come out and hustle all over the field, hit and get ground balls.”

When the Tuskers do that, they match up well with just about anyone. It’s a style that plays to Somers’ strengths: athleticism, quickness and physicality.

“When we play hard and physical,” first-year Somers coach Lew Janavey said, “good things are going to happen.”

Against Greeley, Somers also got something that makes it even more tough to beat: balanced scoring.

Sure Syracuse-bound senior star JoJo Marasco had three goals and two assists. But the Tuskers also had four other multiple-goal scorers, led by Tullgren, who had a career-high four goals to go along with two assists.

Three players scored two goals each — senior co-captain Dylan Haas, junior co-captain Greg Petre and junior Cole Partenza.

Partenza, who transferred back to Somers after playing for Iona Prep his freshman season, has strong bloodlines to Somers lacrosse. He’s the cousin of former Somers standouts Tommy, Drew and Danny Werney.

“We know they’re going to be keying on JoJo,” Partenza said. “That’s why we need to move off the ball when they’re sliding to him.”

Having other players in addition to Marasco fill the scoring column made Janavey a very happy man after the game.

“We need guys to step up,” Janavey said. “It’s nice when everyone else is a threat.”

It’s not so nice, though, if you’re the opposing coach.

“They’re a hard-nosed team,” Greeley first-year coach Vin DeGregorio said. “That’s what we expected.”

Though Somers is looking like the team to beat right now, the playoffs are still six weeks away. DeGregorio, a former Yorktown standout who was an all-American at Hartwick, knows a thing or two about the postseason.

“Come playoff time,” he said. “Everything changes.”

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