In their own manners, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt boys lacrosse teams delivered impressive performances as the final week of the 2011 regular season looms. The Hornets further established its Section III Class A contender credentials by going to Corcoran Tuesday night and pulling away late to beat the Cougars 11-4. Meanwhile, the state Class B no. 1-ranked Red Rams celebrated its Senior Night at home with some exciting plays – one in particular from goalie Dan DiStefano – as it hammered Cortland 17-5 for its 36th win in a row, the state’s longest active win streak. Already with an 11-1 mark, F-M knew that it had to fare well against an opponent like Corcoran (10-2) if it wanted to offer a real challenge to nine-time defending Class A champion West Genesee, whom the Hornets face in next Tuesday’s regular-season finale. That meant playing defense, which has turned into F-M’s trademark this spring. Since allowing eight goals to Cortland in its season opener, the Hornets have held every opponent to six goals or less. Even its lone defeat was a 5-4 decision to Liverpool on April 19 in cold, windy conditions. Here, Corcoran, with its high-powered offense, provided a sufficient challenge, and the Hornets met it, especially in the late going. After a 3-3 deadlock in the first half, the Hornets kept the Cougars off the board until the fourth quarter, right when F-M was in the midst of its decisive scoring run. Matt Moro, Scott Barger, Cody Barber and Connor Chen excelled on the back line as Stefan Basile stopped 12 of the 16 shots he faced. Such an effort allowed the Hornets to stay patient on the offensive end until it scored six goals in the final period. Ryan Simmons led the push, taking full advantage of the Cougars’ defensive attention to Ari Waffle and Kevin Lux by posting five goals, more than the entire Corcoran squad. Chris Anklin scored twice as four others – Waffle, Jim Krizman, Derek Andrake and David Ondrich – landed one goal apiece, with Lux and Wildhack earning assists. Only Connor Lyons would score twice on Corcoran’s side. As for J-D, the task was much different. It had to avoid the distractions of honoring 16 graduating seniors while, at the same time, make sure it took Cortland seriously. True, the Red Rams had beaten the Purple Tigers 13-3 on April 29, just 11 days before their rematch. But in the intervening period Cortland had knocked off Homer 16-8, so it had more confidence that it could take down a well-regarded opponent. Or at least that was the case until goalie Dan DiStefano dazzled the crowd late in the first quarter. Already with five saves to thwart Cortland’s early advances, he took off from the crease with the ball, kept moving forward and got no resistance from the defenders, allowing him to move within 20 yards of the net – and fire a shot past Purple Tigers goalie Alex Stevens. It was the second time in as many years that DiStefano had scored a goal, having done the same against Whitesboro in 2010. Fired up by that play, J-D shut out Cortland the rest of the first half, steadily working its way to a 10-1 lead. By game’s end, six different players had multiple goals as sophomore Jordan Evans, with three goals and five assists, set the pace. McLaren Brady had a team-best four goals, adding an assist as Deke Burns picked up three goals and two assists. Tim Edwards, Alex Hatem and Drew Wanamaker each found the net twice as Brad Diamond also netted a goal. DiStefano turned away 16 shots to go with his rare offensive showpiece.