By Alex Frazier
Meet…Dan MarrNothing lights up a defenseman more than whacking the stick out of an opponent’s hands.
Certainly Pennsbury’s Dan Marr thrives on that.
In his last regular season game against Lower Merion Friday a week ago, he had a great time.
“He probably threw five checks where the kids literally dropped their sticks because he threw it with such accuracy and velocity,” said Pennsbury coach Jamie Huber.
“It’s always fun,” said Marr. “If they leave them hanging…they’re fun checks to throw.”
It was Marr making the defensive play that set up the game winner in Saturday’s 4-3 quarterfinal upset of Avon Grove in the district quarterfinals.
It’s not unusual that Marr is matched up against the other team’s best player.
“I definitely love playing against kids at a higher level,” he said.
He held Penncrest’s Andrew Caldwell to just one assist; Abington’s Ryan Ambler had just one goal and two assists in the first game (four goals and an assist in the second); against Holy Ghost Prep, he held the Firebirds’ best player scoreless.
“He always does a great job of shutting guys down,” said Huber. “I can use him whenever I want to, wherever I want to.”
Marr also said that playing against good players on his own team in practice day in and day out has made him a better player.
This year Marr has scored one goal and assisted on two others. He has 50 ground balls and 80 takeaways.
Marr says that his height (6-1) is an advantage.
“(It’s an advantage) with knocking down passes and going over the head with some of the checks,” he said.
Marr started as a midfielder in sixth grade but in seventh his coach handed him a long pole and he never went back.
“I tried it out and liked it,” he said. “At the time they were in need of defensemen, and I volunteered and have loved it ever since.”
At Pennsbury, he started as a long stick midfielder for his first two years, but moved to close defense as a junior, which suited him just fine because there was less running and he was on the field longer.
“What I like about it a lot is the defense comes together as a unit and you’re in constant communication with everyone,” he said. “On offense I feel it’s more individual work, one-on-one dodging.”
Marr is a four-year starter. Though he did not make all-league as a freshman, perhaps an egregious oversight, he has been on the first team every other year.
Last year he was the team’s Defensive MVP and is likely to repeat that this year and is in the running for overall MVP.
He has also been a two-year captain.
“I’m not the one to vocalize,” he said. “I’m more (like) I’ll pull you aside and tell you what to do and get you going in the right direction.”
“He’s not a very vocal leader,” confirmed Huber, “but when you take into consideration everything else he does, it’s a miniscule thing.”
Besides excelling in lacrosse, Marr is an excellent student with a 4.0 GPA on a 5.0 scale. Last year he took AP microeconomics.
“Somehow I’m still maintaining some A’s in my classes even though it’s second semester senior year,” he said. “I’m pretty happy with that.”
He was also a Chair of the Prom Committee and is an active leader in his church’s youth group.
For the last two summers, he’s gone on a mission to the Bahamas, working with the natives on such things as vegetable gardening, painting and roofing. He plans to go back again this summer.
Next year Marr will try to walk on at Penn State. Having attended fall football games and this year’s Blue and White game, it’s not surprising that he was attracted to the school.
“That was a huge factor for me,” he said. “I just fell in love with the campus.”
He also has Pennsbury friends that go there.
“Sometimes they call it Pennsbury’s 13th grade because a lot of the kids at Pennsbury end up there,” he said.
Though he was recruited by some D-III schools, he wanted a bigger campus.
“Small schools weren’t really for me,” he said.
If he doesn’t make the lacrosse team, so be it.
“I love lacrosse but it’s not something that’s going to make or break my college experience,” he said.
As for a major, one day it’s political science, the next hotel management.
“My mind changes every day, every time I see something cool on TV or in the paper,” he said.
Whatever it turns out to be, he’ll attack it just like it was the other team’s best player.
“I can’t say enough good things about him,” said Huber.
Patriots peaking – After losing the first game of the season, Central Bucks East ran the table and earned the No. 2 seeding in the District One Tournament.Qualifying for districts and winning the Continental Conference has become second nature for the Patriots.
Coach Bruce Garcia has been leading the program ever since it became a varsity sport in 2001, and even before when it was a club team for three years and before that a combined program with C.B. West.
Garcia started the Central Bucks Athletic Association with 60 players that quickly burgeoned to 300 and now attracts over 700-800 kids to its boys’ and girls’ programs.
Having that kind of foundation, it wasn’t difficult to convince the school district of the advantages of making lacrosse a varsity sport.
Garcia told the school board that the program would put kids into colleges they otherwise might not get into.
This year, for example, four players are headed to service academies, and several others will be playing at the D-1 level.
“Lacrosse gives them options that weren’t there before,” said Garcia.
Since the inception of lacrosse as a varsity sport at C.B. East in 2001, the Patriots have won every league title and qualified for districts every year except in 2004 when several players were involved in a tragic automobile accident.
Garcia is reluctant to take credit for the success of C.B. East. As he says, “The only thing I do is bring the balls to the field. It’s the players that do everything else. I just coordinate everything for them to make them safe and get to the right venue at the right time.”
Garcia diverts credit to great coaching at the youth and jayvee levels as well as his own varsity assistants.
“That makes my job that much easier,” he said.
But the bottom line is that the program bears Garcia’s trademark.
“These kids have the desire and need to excel,” he said. “Where do they get that? They get it from the youth coaches, they get it from the jayvee coaches, they get it form a lot of things we do.
“We run the program like we’re assisting them and their parents. We don’t put up with foul language. There’s a lot of respect going on, and with that respect there’s a lot of conditioning going on. We have a system that we work with on and off the field. The system works and the kids aspire to that system. It’s self-perpetuating. It’s neat to watch this machine that wasn’t there 15 years ago.”
One crucial tenet in the Garcia philosophy is listening.
“Listening to the players is extremely important,” he said. “Listening to their issues, listening to what they have to say is important. Not always is it about what your practice plans are; you adjust to what you hear or what you don’t hear. When we can open up that line of communication, it’s a good thing. I expect that they give me and all the other coaches exactly the same respect that I give them.”
Interest in lacrosse at East runs high. Parents from outside the school district, even as far away as Pittsburgh and North Carolina, call Garcia to inquire about the program before moving to the area.
“A varsity program that is doing well draws good athletes into the school district,” he said. “They move into our district to play lacrosse because they want the exposure and varsity experience for their son, but they also want that experience to continue into the collegiate years.”
And lacrosse at East isn’t just about the game. It’s bigger than the game.
Every year the Patriots become involved in five to seven community events selected by the Extra Man Opportunity Club, run by a board of players who select the events they will participate in.
“These events are not just donating $500 from a car wash,” said Garcia. “We don’t do that. We run 5K races, we assist in 5K races, we will rake leaves and do yard work for families that can’t do it because they have to attend to an illness in their family for a cancer patient. We’ll go in as a group of 20-30 people and do a lot of work.”
True to form, this year’s version of C.B. East lacrosse has won the Continental Conference and has made the playoffs once again.
This year’s team entered the district playoffs as the second seed, the highest ever for an East team. The Patriots have already qualified for a spot in the district semis and have also earned a berth in states as a result of Saturday’s win 10-7 win over Ridley.
“This group of players has been one of the best years as a group to coach because there are no divides between juniors and seniors,” said Garcia. “It’s been a pleasure to go to the field. A lot of the drama is not there that I’ve had in the past.”
In fact, Garcia did not have to appoint a sideline coach this year.
“Even the players that don’t get on the field in a given event, I don’t turn around and see anyone saying anything negative or relaxing,” he said. “They’re all ready and willing to jump on the field. They’re all positive and willing to help no matter what happens. You don’t always have that kind of unity in a group of 33 young men. The attitudes are exactly where you expect them to be.”
The Patriots have been led by four solid captains, all of whom were selected to the all-league first team. Their destinations next year attest to their quality.
Midfielder Warren Kuhn will be playing for the Air Force Academy, defenseman Weston French will attend Sienna, faceoff specialist Sean Reilly is headed to Navy, and attackman Matt Brodzik will try to walk on at Penn State.
It’s not by coincidence that East’s’ captains represent each area of the field.
“The captain is who the players emulate so you’re always represented no matter what position,” said Garcia. “It works out well that way.”
Ironically, the Patriots started the season with a loss to Allentown Central Catholic, but as it turned out it was the only loss of the season.
Garcia is grateful for that setback.
“You have to learn from your mistakes,” he said. “If you don’t learn every day, it’s not worth waking up in the morning. We lost two players, one Brenden Coleman our starting midfielder with an ACL. We learned from that point forward how to adjust with injuries. Had we not lost that first game we probably would not be in the position we are in today.”
This year East will graduate 13 seniors—a number Garcia likes to aim for in each graduating class.
No doubt about it, those 13 seniors will be missed, but there will be another 13 juniors ready to step into their shoes.
“We always want to have 8-13 seniors on the team,” said Garcia. “It’s a coaching philosophy to keep that many players in the pipeline at all times.”
That’s the way it is at East.
SOL Top 5
1. Central Bucks East
2. Abington
3. Pennsbury
4. Plymouth Whitemarsh
5. Hatboro-Horsham
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