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Sophomore attackman Mike Daniello scores on this first-quarter shot, giving John Jay a 2-1 lead. The Indians came from behind in the third quarter and outscored Brewster by 7-2 in the second half in recording an 11-6 victory today. (Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com)

The leading contenders in Section 1 Class B both came away with big wins today.

You can read separate reports on Somers’ 7-4 win at Mahopac and John Jay’s 11-6 win at Brewster.

• Click here for updates on Chaminade’s big win over St. Anthony’s and other action.

I was on hand in Mahopac for the Somers-Mahopac game and Jim Stout of MaxPreps.com attended the John Jay-Brewster game. Here are the reports:

Somers 7, Mahopac 4

It’s appropriate that defense was the deciding factor in Lew Janavey’s debut as a varsity boys lacrosse coach.

Known as a defensive guru, the former longtime Lakeland/Panas assistant made his first game at Somers a winning one as the Tuskers defeated host Mahopac 7-4, limiting the Indians to one goal in the second half.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the kids,” Janavey said moments after the Tuskers secured the win.

Goaltender Chris Longo made 11 saves and the Tuskers’ defense of Erik Zmuidins, Eddie Schurr and John Bello held Mahopac senior star Tyler Perrelle without a goal and held junior standout John Brandofino scoreless over the final three quarters after he scored three goals in the first quarter.

“They outhustled us in the first half,” Janavey said. “We changed our defense a bit in the second half and were able to pull it out. They’re a great team over there.”

Colgate-bound junior Erik Pfiffner scored what proved to be the game-winner with 5:45 remaining in the game off a nice feed from Joe Marasco, giving the Tuskers a 5-4 lead. Marasco, who finished with three goals and an assist, scored back-to-back goals to clinch.

“This is the kind of win that builds up confidence,” Marasco said. “We’ve trusted Coach (Janavey) and everything he’s been doing and we look up to him, so to get a win right off the bat is big for us.”

Somers had taken a 4-3 lead with 1:20 left in the second quarter when Colin Tullgren scored off a nice assist by from Dylan Haas. But the Indians tied it midway through the third on a goal by Chase Thompson, with Perrelle drawing an assist for his lone point of the game.

Johnny McGuigan enjoyed an outstanding game in goal for the Indians, making 18 saves.

Mahopac was coming off a season-opening win over Fordham Prep on Tuesday.

“We saw the Somers coaches at that game and they did a good job scouting us,” Mahopac co-coach Mike Haddeland said. “They came up with a good game plan.”

John Jay 11, Brewster 6

John Jay pulled away for an 11-6 victory over Brewster today in a rematch of last season’s Section 1 Class B final. The Indians outscored Brewster by 7-2 in the second half and

The game marked the opening of the season for John Jay while Brewster falls to 0-2.

Brewster led by 4-2 midway through the second quarter and still held a 5-4 lead early in the third. The Bears had a chance to go up by two again at that point but junior goalie Rob Maher made a point-blank save to keep the deficit at one for John Jay.

On the ensuing counter attack, sophomore Forrest Walter tied the game at 5-5 for the Indians. Sophomore Mike Daniello (five goals) followed with the go-ahead score. John Jay led by 7-5 after three periods..

“I think that being the first game, it took some time to figure some things out,” said John Jay coach Nick Savastano. “We had a lot of first-year guys out here (the Indians carry 13 sophomores) but I thought we did a much better job in winning the second half.

” I thought going with Daniello on faceoffs in the second half was big for us,” Savastano added. “We felt as though we weren’t winning enough faceoffs but Daniello is a tough kid. and did a nice job.”

For Brewster, Paul Dingee scored four goals, three of which came in the first half.

“John Jay has a lot more depth than we do,” said Brewster coach Mike Honey; “And we’re very young, very young offensively. We graduated five of our top scorers. We just have to keep getting better as the season goes along. We played hard; we’re scrappy but our stick skills have to get better.”

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You can also reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.