Ryan Parker, East Islip tough enough to retain Suffolk Class B crown  

East Islip senior Ryan Parker stood surrounded by teammates with a cut on his left cheek, partially covered from gauze placed in the first quarter by an athletic trainer. The right side of his mouth showed a touch of blood, with a smaller cut marking his chin.

It’s a testament to the way Parker and East Islip boys lacrosse play that they went blow-for-blow in a physical battle with cross-town rivals West Islip. But only one team could leave East Islip Middle School with the Suffolk Class B plaque, and when senior Ethan Benardos grasped it with both hands and lifted it triumphantly over his head, it became abundantly clear that the celebrations had begun.

“It’s just so surreal, especially on the home turf,” Benardos said. “There’s no better feeling.”

Top-seeded East Islip became back-to-back champions Saturday after defeating No. 2 West Islip, 15-10, in the Class B county championship. The result comes just 26 days after West Islip’s overtime win over East Islip in the regular season.

“Losing to this team in the regular season with our rivalry, there’s nothing better than to go out and beat this team,” Parker said.

Tied 6-6 at halftime, East Islip (15-3) scored seven third-quarter goals to take the lead and never hand it back. Benardos and Parker scored five goals each, with the duo accounting for five of the seven third-quarter goals.

“Being named captains at the start of the year, we knew we had to step up in big games like this,” Parker said. “And we sure did.”

“We just didn’t want this to be our last game,” Benardos said. “I think that’s what fired us up the most.”

Senior Chase Canfora controlled the faceoff X, winning 19 of 29 faceoffs to keep East Islip’s momentum. Senior Jack Kalinowski added three goals and sophomore Sean Hanigan had a game-high four assists.

Senior Drew Walendowski was terrific in the cage, making numerous kick saves and tremendous back-to-back stops to stall West Islip (14-3) and finish with 16 saves.

“I’ve never been more confident,” Parker said. “We want them to shoot from the outside, because we know our goalie is capable of making all those big saves.”

East Islip advances to the Class B Long Island championship game where it’ll face Nassau’s Garden City. It’ll be another hard battle, one that could lead to more cuts and bruises for Parker as the physical two-way talent that he is.

But toughness has never been in question for Parker. And on Saturday, his teammates showed why he’s not alone in that regard.