By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — Goals came quickly, and for the Staples High boys lacrosse, the game was over after one quarter of play.

The No. 2 Wreckers hit the back of the net nine times in the opening quarter en route to a 19-3 toppling of visiting No. 15 Hall of West Hartford in the Class L State Tournament’s first round on Wednesday.

Ben Burmeister scored two of his three goals in the opening few minutes to help set the tone. 

Staples responded to Hall’s first tally, just under four minutes into the matchup, with seven unanswered goals to close out the first quarter with a commanding 9-1 lead.

Leo Sequenzia netted the first of his three for a 3-1 lead exactly one minute after Hall got on the board. Gavin Rothenberg scored the first of his four to go along with one assist, off a nice setup by Tyler Clark (a goal and three assists), for a 4-1 lead.

After Sequenzia made it 5-1 with 4:11 left in the first, things settled down for a couple of minutes before another flurry of goals as Sequenzia, Rothenberg and Sam Eigen, scoring the first of his two, found the net on consecutive possessions for an 8-1 cushion. Rothenberg added yet another goal before the end of the stanza.

Adam Udell and Tristan Schaefer both scored and assisted on another and Owen Bessey, Dixon Scherer, Will Fleming and Timmy Herold, with his first varsity goal, all found the net.

Cisco Celotto took nearly all of the faceoffs and helped to lead the Wreckers in the possession game.

The Wreckers host No. 7 Glastonbury in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 3.

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.