Saranac Lake’s Emery Swanson attempts to control the ball while colliding with Salmon River’s Iawentanawen Mitchell during the first half of Friday’s game at Schroeter’s Field. Also pictured for the Red Storm is Bruno Freeman (20). (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — For the second time this season, the Saranac Lake boys lacrosse team found itself in a tight match Friday with Salmon River in the last game of the Section X regular season for both squads.

Four straight goals in the second half by the Shamrocks ended any hopes that the Red Storm had of averting a sweep.

Salmon River broke open a one-goal game with a four-goal spurt to claim an 11-5 victory over Saranac Lake at Schroeter’s Field. A goal from Jarrett Ashton with 4:31 left in the third quarter cut Saranac Lake’s deficit to 5-4, but Salmon River answered with the next four to take control of the game.

Rowisonkies Barnes and Isaiah Skidders paced the Shamrocks with four goals apiece, Cash Mitchell scored twice and Treyton Mitchell chipped in one goal for the winners.

Ashton notched two goals to lead the Red Storm and teammates Hayden Plank, JB Chapin and DJ Morgan added a goal each. Playing in his final game at home, Chapin also tallied an assist, and Plank added one assist.

The Shamrocks defeated the Red Storm in two meetings this season. Their other win was a 12-10 decision at home on April 2. Salmon River finished the Section X regular season with a 9-3 record and a 10-3 mark overall, while Saranac Lake fell to 4-8 in the league and 7-8 overall.

The Shamrocks clung to a 3-2 lead at halftime and very well could have headed into intermission in a deadlock had it not been for a spectacular save by their goalie John Jacobs in the final seconds of the opening half.

“It was tight for the first half,” Salmon River head coach James Barnes said. “Saranac Lake has really improved. Over the years, they’ve been getting better and better. The first game was close, so we knew it was going to be a fight. We picked it up. We limited our mistakes and started to run our offense. Defense played well all game.

“Johnny Jacobs played really well,” Barnes continued. “That save he made at the end of the first half, I think we built off that. I think our offense really took off after that.”

“The boys played great against a good team,” Saranac Lake head coach Dermott Morgan said. “I think it’s a different game if my attack found the net. We broke them down. We had great opportunities, but we missed the net several times.”

Saranac Lake now moves into the opening round of the Section X playoffs and will travel to face Massena on Tuesday.