In the only appropriate conclusion to the regular season, the Marcellus lacrosse teams both had to meet Skaneateles on Thursday — and both met with the same results. On the boys end, the Mustangs could not keep the state Class C no. 2-ranked Lakers from completing an undefeated regular season, losing a 14-8 decision, while the Marcellus girls lost by a score of 10-8. Marcellus seemed, at least for a while, to catch the Skaneateles boys at a good moment, basking in the afterglow of giving head coach Ron Doctor his 400th career victory against Jordan-Elbridge just two nights earlier. Slowing down the pace, the Mustangs (8-8) played strong first-half defense and, at halftime, only trailed 4-3. Gradually, Skaneateles sped things up, though, and its attack caught on in the late going. In defeat, R.J. Linder, Matt McCaffer and Carmen Brienza each scored twice for Marcellus as Steve Brissette and Tom McNaney got the other goals. Tyler Tomeny joined Brissette in the assist column. Combined, Brad Stowell and Roger Trombley had 10 saves. For Skaneteles, Kevin Rice poured in seven goals, with Mike Richards (four goals) and Paul O’Donnell (three goals) combining for the other tallies. In the girls encounter between Marcellus and Skaneateles, the Mustangs (10-6) looked to avenge an April 20 overtime defeat to the Lakers, but fell behind 5-3 in the first half and could not inch closer despite playing on even terms the rest of the way. Nora Barry and Leea Sinay had two goals apiece, with Catherine Nolan also scring twice. Faith Seeley and Andrea Burrows had the other goals as Meghan Connors joined Barry and Nolan in the assist column. Eight different players would score for Skaneateles as Carly Davis, Maddy Morrissey (two goals, one assist each) and Aly Davis (three assists) led the way. The boys Mustangs had already gone through a rough week that included a loss to Westhill May 15 and, last Tuesday, a trip to Cazenovia that produced an 18-8 loss to the Lakers. Cazenovia, ranked in the state Class C top 10, earned its second win over Marcellus this season by taking over in the second quarter with a 7-1 run that expanded its margin to 12-3, then blanking the Mustangs in the third quarter. With a late push, McCaffer and Brienza each had three-goal hat tricks, with Tomeny and Brissette each getting one goal and one assist. Linder and Greg Ramsden added assists. Joe Nardella and John Greacen led Cazenovia, each scoring four times. This leads to the Section III Class C playoffs, where both of the Marcellus teams will try to make deep runs. On Monday night, the girls Mustangs, as the no. 3 seed in Class C-1, will host no. 6 seed Chittenango, the winner to meet Jamesville-DeWitt or Mexico in Wednesday’s semifinal round. As for the Marcellus boys team, it would host no. 9 seed Tully in Tuesday night’s opening round – and a win would mean another shot at Skaneateles, the top seed, in the quarterfinals Thursday night.