By Alex Frazier
Meet…Joe PaloJoe Palo and his friend Cameron were standing around stretching at a Twist practice back in ninth grade when one of the coaches called for all the faceoff players.
Palo turned to Cameron and asked, “Should I go?”
“Dude, you did it for the freshman team,” Cameron replied. “Why not? Go see what you can do.”
He went over and was matched up against the kid who was slated to be the faceoff specialist.
“I beat him every time,” said Palo. “I wasn’t doing anything special. I just jumped over the ball and he couldn’t figure it out.”
And that was the start of something special.
With a lot of practice on his secret technique, Palo has become one of the best faceoff specialists in the Suburban One League.
“It’s such an important part of the game,” he said. “It makes me feel like an important part of the team to go out and win the ball for my team.”
Ironically, his younger brother Steve also faces off.
“I made varsity as a sophomore and he was in eighth grade,” said Palo. “Everything I was learning at high school I was coming back and showing him. He was doing things at the youth level that I was doing at the high school level. He’s coming along real well. Some games he’s done better than me.”
Steve plays defensive midfield and is on the wing for faceoffs.
“He’ll be there to get the ground ball if I pop it out to him,” said Palo. “It’s awesome to be right next to my brother.”
Palo started lacrosse in sixth grade for the Horsham Lacrosse Club. He began as a defenseman and then switched to midfield in eighth grade because there were no subs.
In the fall of his freshman year, he tried out for Twist as a long pole and made the team. That spring his Hatboro coach told him he would be playing midfield. He also made the Twist U-19 team.
The following fall, he switched to LB3, which he’s played ever since.
Ironically, his coach with LB3 was J.P Banks, who took over at Hatboro-Horsham this year, much to Palo’s pleasure.
“I was so excited,” said Palo. “I just loved the way he coached. He’s such a good teacher of the game. He gets you to see the game the way it’s supposed to be seen and play the way it’s supposed to be played. I was jumping out of my feet when I heard he was going to be our new coach.”
While Palo has pretty much perfected his faceoff game, he’s now working at improving other aspects.
“To his credit, one of the things he’s trying now is to become a complete player,” said Banks.
Palo also played football for the Hatters. Although he played it for 12 years, he admits he wasn’t one of the better players because by the time he arrived in high school, he already knew he wanted to focus on lacrosse, but he kept with it, playing tight end and defensive end. He scored four touchdowns this year and was asked to play in the Montgomery County All-Star Football game.
He declined that honor because of lacrosse commitments.
Palo is also a member of the student council. As part of that responsibility, he acts as the emcee at pep rallies.
“I always have the microphone,” he said. “It’s fun to run everything. It’s cool to be the center of attention in the gym in front of the whole school.”
For his graduation project, Palo organized the Hatter lacrosse team for the Polar Bear Plunge this year, a January dip in Neshaminy State Park. The team once again led all high schools in raising $3,500 for Special Olympics.
“My goal was to get the whole Continental Conference together, but they were a little smarter than us and kept their clothes on and stayed inside bundled up in their houses while we were jumping in the water,” he said. “We had a blast out there. We had a costume contest. We had people dressed up in wrestling singlets and their sister’s underwear.”
Palo will be playing lacrosse for Cortland State University next year.
Traditionally, Cortland is one of the top Division III programs in the country. The Red Dragons were National Champions in 2009 and fell in the semifinals last year.
Cortland coaches noticed Palo partly because of his faceoff ability.
At the EPSLA showcase tryouts, there were two teams with no faceoff players, so Palo volunteered to face off for two of the four teams.
“I got more exposure from the coaches by playing for two of the teams,” he said. “I did really well on faceoffs and coaches noticed that.”
When Cortland coach Steve Beville called him, he scheduled a visit in July. He committed on his official visit in September.
“I liked the style of lacrosse they played,” he said.
Ironically, the first live college lacrosse game he had seen was Cortland against Salisbury in the national championship.
“They played real hard-nosed and come after you,” he said.
His initial impression was reinforced when he saw them play at Widener this year.
He plans on majoring in physical education.
“They’re very highly ranked in the nation,” said Palo. “That was another reason I wanted to go there. It was a perfect match.”
Besides teaching when he graduates, Palo also aspires to coaching.
He’s already setting the groundwork for that coaching the Horsham Lacrosse Club’s A-3 team, comprised of seventh and eighth graders. His assistant is teammate Kyle Peters.
“He pays attention to what’s going on and asks a lot of good, probing, coaching-type questions,” said Banks. “He’s also able to share and learn from his mistakes. He could be a very good coach down the road.”
Palo often has had to rush to practices after his own and sometimes misses them if he has night games.
“It’s a great time trying to teach the kids how to play,” he said. “We just go out there and have a good time with the kids.”
Banks said that Cortland has a history of producing good coaches.
“If coaching’s what he wants to do, which is definitely something he would be good at, then he’s sure putting himself in the right place,” said Banks. “He’s a really good kid. I enjoy him on and off the field. If in four or five years down the road, I’m still coaching and he wants to come coach with me, I would be more than happy to have him on my sideline.”
Falcons on mend – Pennsbury has been fraught with injuries this year, but the Falcons seem to be getting healthy in time for a late-season run.
“We have been unfortunate with injuries this year,” said coach Jamie Huber. “I’ve never had this many injuries on the team.”
Even with key players out of the lineup, Pennsbury has done well even though its 8-4 record might not indicate that.
The Falcons’ four losses include an overtime setback to SOL power Central Bucks East, a one-goal defeat against District 11 power Emmaus, a four-goal loss to four-time defending National Conference champion Abington and a three-goal loss to Avon Grove, which is ranked second in the PIAA poll. The Falcons trailed by just a single goal in the last minutes.
“All our losses are to very good teams,” said Huber. “We pretty much handled everybody else. We won the games we were supposed to and battled through some of the injuries. We’re getting better.”
The Falcons have a lot of balance and talent offensively.
Ricky Jutkiewicz always draws a lot of attention in the midfield.
“He’s been real balanced with his goals and assists,” said Huber. “He always draws a pole. It opens up a lot on offense. He’s one of our bigger outside threats.”
Junior attackman Calvin Hopkins is the team’s leading scorer. He comes by his credentials honestly. His brother Westy is one of the leading scorers for Notre Dame.
Attackmen Andrew Probst and Josh Caven don’t have Hopkins’ numbers, but they are also threats.
Huber calls midfielder Evan Caterson his “ground-ball machine.” Unfortunately, he was injured against Avon Grove and will be out indefinitely.
“He has one of the best overhand shots I’ve seen on the run in the league for awhile,” said Huber. “It’s kind of a lost art.”
Defensively, Pennsbury is led by Dan Marr, who has been one of the injured players and has only been used sparingly. He is now back 100 percent and will be a big factor in the waning season.
“He played great against Avon Grove, shut down one of their top players,” said Huber. “He always goes out and shuts down the top guy. He’s been a real key to the defense.”
Marr will attend Penn State next year and hopes to walk on.
“He is a heck of a player,” said Huber. “I think he has a shot.”
And when the opposition penetrates the defense, goalie Drew Sweetland is there to shut the door. He is one of the few key players to remain healthy.
“He’s been huge in net,” said Huber, “and he’s been a big reason for keeping that defense together.”
Huber said he had a lot of role players on the team, one in particular, Lewis Sears, a junior captain. He is listed as a defenseman, but Huber has played him as a short-stick middie, and he is now the team’s backup goalie after the real backup goalie Phil Jutkiewicz broke his arm.
“He’s probably one of the best athletes on the field,” said Huber. “He never quits, he always goes hard. He’s definitely our second best defenseman behind Marr.”
Despite the spate of injuries, Pennsbury is still in the hunt.
“We like where we are,” said Huber. “Our goals this year were to win the conference and make the District One playoffs and make it past the second round.”
Last year the Falcons lost 8-7 in overtime to Hatboro-Horsham in the second round.
The Falcons still have a shot at a share of the title if they beat Abington next Tuesday.
“Our goals are still on the table,” said Huber. “There’s still a lot to play for. We’re hoping to get at least one home playoff game if not two.”
Around the league – Friday Plymouth Whitemarsh travels to Upper Dublin for a key game. The Colonials are two games up on the Cardinals and Upper Merion.
PW would have to lose to both Upper Dublin and Upper Merion to create a three-way tie for the championship, assuming all three teams win the rest of their games.
• In a key Continental Conference game Wednesday, Central Bucks East pretty much locked up another title with a 9-3 win over Hatboro-Horsham.
East led by just one at the intermission, but the Patriots took advantage of several Hatter miscues in the third as they held Hatboro scoreless while pumping in three goals.
Parker Self led East with three goals. Matt Brodzik was next with two while Weston French, Chris Vetter, Ryan Whitney and Matt Heim chipped in solo goals. Harrison Holak made four saves.
Jimmy Durkin, Jimmy Murphy and Kevin Sweeney accounted for the Hatters’ tallies. Marc Poust stopped nine shots.
“They played really well,” said Hatter coach J.P. Banks, “and we made too many mistakes. Against a really good team like that, you’re going to pay for your mistakes.”
• In an intra-conference matchup that could have playoff implications, Council Rock North defeated C. B. West 8-4.
“It was a big game,” said North coach Joe Kivlen. “The guys played really well.”
The key for the Indians was a big second quarter. The teams were tied at two and North went on to score four unanswered goals.
Chris Gifford led the team with four goals, while Brian Fitzpatrick and Mike Demsko each notched a pair of goals.
Defensively, the Indians cleared the ball well and had very few turnovers, thanks to a great effort from goalie Mark McDonald, who made 11 saves.
“He made a ton of saves on the doorstep,” said Kivlen.
SOL Top 5
1. Central Bucks East
2. Abington
3. Pennsbury
4. Council Rock North
5. Central Bucks West
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