Upper Dublin and Central Bucks West were winners in Thursday’s District One 3A Tournament. Both teams advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal round. CB East/Garnet Valley photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
CLASS 3A
#1-2 UPPER DUBLIN 19, #1-19 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3
The first quarter ended with the Golden Hawks trailing by just two goals.
The first half ended with the Golden Hawks trailing by 10 goals. With the 19th-seeded Golden Hawks looking to pass the ball around and slow the game down, Upper Dublin's defense decided to turn up the pressure.
Sure, the offense put away 19 goals, but the defense got things back on track.
"We had to press out and flush them out in the first quarter," Upper Dublin coach Dave Sowers said. "We weren't going to let them just throw it around and make it a 6-5 game. We talked about making sure we were breaking down and staying on their hands as much as we can and just playing good team defense."
Jed Hanson scored four goals, Max Winebrake and Jerry Bardol added hat tricks as the third-seeded Cardinals dispatched the Golden Hawks to advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.
UD used an 8-0 advantage in the second quarter to all but put away the game, using a flurry of transition goals to do it.
Lucas Roselli had another strong game on the faceoff X, going 10-of-16 in less than three quarters of work, to jump-start the offense.
"The first quarter, we had to feel the other team out," Roselli said. "Once we did that, we started scoring more goals. We practice the transition a lot and we get a lot of chances during a game, the attack men have been playing together for a while so they know where the ball is going to be."
Roselli also added a goal and assist for the Cardinals on back-to-back scores that put Upper Dublin ahead 6-2.
CR South got two goals from Brandon Follis and a goal and assist from Brendan Gambino.
Upper Dublin added five goals in the third quarter while the defense posted its second straight shutout frame.
"The biggest thing is we stayed calm. Our chemistry is so good, I look out there and our starting lineup is 10 of my best friends," Nick Sowers said. "We can look at each other and know we've got this. We never panicked, we took a breath, calmed down, pressed out more and then our offense got it done."
Upper Dublin (16-1, 8-0 SOL) will face sixth seed CB West in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Council Rock 2-0-0-1 3
Upper Dublin 4-8-5-2 19
#1-6 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 10, #1-11 UNIONVILLE 6
The Bucks made history on Thursday night. Their second round win over the visiting Indians was the program’s first ever in the second round.
“For our program, this is a huge victory,” coach Matt Coverdale said. “This is our first time capturing a second round game. We’ve been in the second round the last two years.
“We came up short two years ago against Bishop Shanahan, losing 7-5, and then last year we lost to Central Bucks East in the second round of the playoffs at Patriot Stadium. We’re really happy to be able to advance to Saturday and get an opportunity to prove ourselves in the third round.”
The game was won in the third quarter after the two teams battled to a 3-3 tie at the intermission. The Bucks’ defense stole the spotlight, shutting out the Indians in the quarter while its offense put four goals on the board.
“One of the biggest things was the play of our defense, and our goalie did a great job,” Coverdale said. “I can think of a particular three-minute stretch where Unionville had good extended possessions, but our defensemen – senior captain Andrew Santacecilia, Zach Hess, Sal Antonucci and Blake Ewaskey – along with our short stick defensive middies, Zach Lorino and Mark McCool, did a fantastic job of working through a lot of their pick-oriented offense and being physical in one-on-one matchups.”
Goalie Max Dunar also came up big, turning away 11 of the 17 shots he faced.
“Max Dunar came up with five of his 11 saves in that third quarter,” Coverdale said.
Senior captain Joey Rockovich led the Bucks’ attack, finishing with four goals and an assist. Erik Ojert had a pair of goals while Michael Samson and Ben Sexauer had one each. Contributing one assist each were Jake Ojert and Blake Ewaskey.
Garrett Hitchens controlled play at the faceoff X, winning 12 of 14 faceoffs. He also had a team-high 11 ground balls.
Central Bucks West (14-4, 7-2 SOL) will travel to second-seeded Upper Dublin for a quarterfinal game on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Unionville 1-2-0-3 6
Central Bucks West 2-1-4-1 8
#1-15 GARNET VALLEY 7, #1-2 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 6
The Patriots’ postseason came to an unexpectedly early end on Friday, thanks to an upstart Jaguar squad that turned a 3-2 deficit after one quarter into a 4-3 halftime lead.
The Jags maintained that one-goal advantage the rest of the way, thanks to the stellar play of goalie Jalen Rose. The United States Air Force Academy recruit turned away 17 shots, keeping the Patriots off the scoreboard in a second quarter that saw the Jaguars go on top and stay there.
For the Patriots, Michael Ott and Ryan Stout both had two goals. Stout also had an assist. Jacob Manion had a goal and an assist, and Brant Billingsley added one goal.
Michael Ott was dominant at the faceoff X, winning 15 of 16 faceoffs. He also had a team-high 11 ground balls to go along with one caused turnover.
Collin Stein, Evan Bullotta and Jake Kueny each had two ground balls, and contributing one ground ball each were Jake Ventresca, Drew Bethke, John Galow and Stout. Galow had a pair of caused turnovers while Ty Tracy and Evan Bulotta had one each.
Central Bucks East (9-0 SOL) closed out its season with a 15-3 record.
Garnet Valley 2-2-2-1 7
Central Bucks East 3-0-2-1 6
#1-9 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 15, #1-8 PENNRIDGE 2
#1-10 PERKIOMEN VALLEY 8, #1-7 NORTH PENN 4
About the Author
