Saranac Lake boys lacrosse team (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE — If the Saranac Lake boys lacrosse team wants to make a statement in Section X, this is the season to do it.

This spring, the Red Storm roster features an experienced, talented group led by 10 seniors, and those upperclassmen will be spread out from one end of the field to the other.

Two all-Section X team selections and last year’s top scorer are among the key players returning as Saranac Lake looks to contend for a league title.

“We’re a veteran team with varsity experience,” said head coach Dermott Morgan, adding the team’s goal is to, “win the sectional championship. We feel this is the year we can compete for a title.”

Three-year starter Ward Walton leads the defense and is back for his final season in goal after being named the league’s first-team player at that position in 2017. A year ago, Morgan described Walton as “the best athlete on the field for us, with reflexes like a cat.”

At the other end of the field, seniors DJ Morgan and Emery Swanson return as dangerous attackers for the Red Storm offense.

A tough player near the goal, DJ Morgan was a second-team all-Section X pick last spring, and returns after scoring 33 goals and recording 22 assists in 2017. Swanson is back for his final season of high school lacrosse and could prove to be one of the most dangerous players in the league. He finished the 2017 season with a team-high 35 goals.

The rest of Saranac Lake’s senior experience comes at the midfield and defensive positions. Ethan Paye returns as a third-year starter on defense, and Emmett Bevilacqua also brings veteran play to the position. Brett Dawson and Jarrett Ashton are two players who coach Morgan says have the potential to be all-league choices this year, with Dawson on defense and Ashton providing scoring ability as a long-stick midfielder.

Ashton will miss the first six games on the schedule before returning from an athletic suspension that began during the basketball season.

Nick Woodard is back as a senior defender, and three-year starter Bryan Sullivan and Hunter LaHart round out the seniors on the roster as impact players at midfield.

Juniors Bruno Freeman and Matt White are back as second-year starters as midfielders. Rylan Christy, Nick Courtney, Austen Reyell and Jacob Shipman are all junior midfielders on the roster. Brandon Miner is also a junior who may be utilized at multiple positions.

Seven sophomores and two freshmen complete the Red Storm’s 2018 roster. Among the sophomores, Jacob Adams, Remi Borden, Logan Brown and Carter Gagnon are midfielders, Dylan Amell and Dylan Murnane will line up at attack and Gunnar Anthony is a defender.

Sam Donaldson will be a long-stick midfielder and Riley Deangelo will defend as the two ninth-graders on the team.

The two biggest losses Saranac Lake will look to replace are J.B. Chapin, a four-year starter who graduated last year, and Hayden Plank, a junior who will miss the season while recovering from shoulder surgery.