East Hampton - When the final whistle sounded on its 13-8 loss at the hands of Half Hollow Hills West, an exhausted East Hampton boys lacrosse team slumped over the sideline. The Bonackers, once ahead by three goals, were dissatisfied with the result, one that could keep them out of the Division II playoffs. There was more to their gait than the fact that Bonac had just been beaten. The team that was all of 18 players deep and challenged a never-weary army of Colts was flat-out beat.

Ryan Shaw leaps and fires a bullet from the top but it's saved by Colts goalie Mike Myones.

The Bonackers might have been the superior team at even strength. However, Hills West's strength in numbers, which didn't pay dividends at first, eventually shone through in the second half. The playoff-hopeful Colts ran wild after intermission, scoring 10 goals to their opponent's three to reel in a crucial victory that further cleared up the county tournament bracket.

"We have 18 kids on our roster, and when you're playing that many kids against 40-man rosters, you tend to get worn down in the second half," Bonac Head Coach Mike Vitulli said. "Fatigue becomes a factor and they continue to run fresh legs on."

At the very least, the Bonackers, now 11th in a race for nine spots in the Class B playoffs, would need a victory on Tuesday at eighth-place Harborfields and then several of those in front of them to drop back. Ninth place Kings Park plays at two-win Greenport/Mattituck/Southold while 10th place Huntington hosts division power Rocky Point. Bonac team members seemed to believe Thursday that even the loss sealed their fate. Meanwhile, Hills West, winners of their last three, likely have locked up a spot even if it was to lose Tuesday against second-ranked Comsewogue.

"It's disappointing," senior goalie Mark Simmons said. "I know we're a lot better than the way we played. I wish we could come out our strongest every game."

Senior Jarred Bowe coasts up the left sideline and clears it out of the Bonackers' defensive half.

Spirits were high on the East Hampton sideline when it took a 5-3 lead into the break. Ryan Shaw scored two goals barely a minute apart in the first quarter to stake his team to a 2-0 lead but Hills West responded with a pair of its own to even it up through one quarter. The Bonackers seized the lead again when Austin Heneveld rolled around the right post from behind the cage and converted. Bonac bumped its advantage to two when Brendan Damm penetrated, was tripped up but still found James Petrie on the doorstep for a point-blank score. The wheels were really in motion when Shaw dodged right, reversed course and fired a lefty liner past Colts goalie Mike Myones for the third of his game-high four goals. Even though Hills West trimmed its deficit to two, the Bonackers were in control at the halfway point.

Hills West made its push from the opening face-off of the second half. It needed less than five minutes to pull in front and enjoyed a 4-1 advantage in the third quarter scoring column. Even then though, the Colts clinged to just a 7-6 lead. It was then that the Bonackers' engines began to dry up at a rapid rate. West won the opening face-off and Brian Donovan found Vito Marsico wide open 10 yards out and he fired a missile past Simmons. An East Hampton turnover allowed Donovan to storm in from the left side and score. Bonac scored twice closed to within two but Neil Powell's goal for East Hampton at the 5:58 mark of the fourth ended up being the team's last. With 2:51 to go, West's Mike Primiano about sealed it with a shot up high from the right side, and the Colts tacked on two insurance goals for good measure.

Junior Austin Heneveld possesses the ball behind the Colts cage while being marked by David DiMaria.

"The kid [David] DiMaria was taking himself out of the play so it was basically 5-on-5 and they were beating us clean way too many times," senior defender Jarred Bowe said. "Our slides were coming too quick and too many men were open."

East Hampton's Andrew Gualtieri tries to body up against Hills West's 270-pound face-off man Jon Reali to gain control.

East Hampton possessions were also at a premium due to the excellence of the Colts' Jon Reali at the X. Reali, a 270-pound lineman for West's football team, won 17 of 24 face-offs on the day and thus gave his side ample opportunities on the attack. In all, the Bonackers were outscored 10-3 in the second half.

"Face-offs have been a strength of ours most of the year, but their kid did a real good job," Vitulli said. "He's tough, he's physical, and he kind of popped the ball wherever he wanted to. Their athletes on the wing were able to get to the ball and we weren't able to pick up groundballs, especially on defensive side of the field."

The loss will likely mark the final home game for six seniors - Bowe, Simmons, Mike Fitzgerald, Neil Powell, Andrew Gualtieri and Mack Fleming. The quintet had worked their way up the ladder from also-rans as sophomores to legitimate playoff contenders as juniors and seniors.

"It's tough," Bowe said. "When I started playing lacrosse in 10th grade we were weak. In 11th grade, we got a little better. This year we thought it was our year. The juniors and sophomores have the potential to go to the playoffs next year, but we just wanted to be that team."

East Hampton ran out of gas in the second half, coming up on the short end of a 10-3 goal differential.