Pennsbury clinched a share of the SOL title with Wednesday’s win over Abington.
By Alex Frazier
Okay, here’s a lacrosse trivia question: When was the last time Pennsbury swept Abington?
Answer: Never.
Never, that is until Tuesday when senior captain Calvin Hopkins scored a goal with 3:37 left in the game to give the Falcons an 8-7 victory and a sweep of the series against the archrival Ghosts.
“It wasn’t all that great,” said Hopkins of his game winner. “I hadn’t done much the whole game. I pretty much snuck around top side on him and buried one low.”
Here’s another question: When was the last time the Falcons won an outright Suburban One League title?
Same answer: Never.
Pennsbury tied for the championship in 2006.
But Friday the Falcons have an opportunity to win their first outright title if they defeat Council Rock North.
In the first meeting between the two schools, Pennsbury prevailed 15-2. Barring a catastrophic event, the Falcons will celebrate a historic occasion on Friday. Should they lose, however, they can still achieve their goal with a win over Council Rock South next Tuesday. Pennsbury handled the Golden Hawks 13-2 back on April 19.
Back at the beginning of the season coach Jamie Huber may have doubted his team would be where it is today.
“I knew we were going to be good; we had a good returning core,” he said. “After the first few games I didn’t think we had the gumption to do anything of worth this year.”
After winning their first three games out of the chute, the Falcons dropped an 11-10 triple overtime game to Penncrest.
It was a game many of the players expected to win after defeating Penncrest the last two years.
The Falcons led 9-7 in the fourth quarter and basically lost the game on dumb penalties.
The loss ended up kick starting the rest of the season.
The players responded not only in games but also on the practice field.
In their next game, they shellacked New Hope-Solebury 12-2 and have yet to lose a game.
“They’ve changed dramatically since the beginning of the year,” said Huber. “It taught me a lot about the boys and what they want and how they’re willing to fight. They’re a lot more resilient than I initially thought they might be.”
Huber has hailed his three captains for helping turn the team around and setting an example for the younger players.
“I put a lot of pressure on my captains to help us get guys to buy in,” said Huber. “They responded to that.”
“We pretty much led by example, going 100 percent all the time,” said Hopkins. “The younger kids followed.”
Getting the younger players on board gave Pennsbury added depth.
“The younger guys getting points really helped us,” said Hopkins. “If we can get a little more depth on the team, it gives the starters a breather.”
“We had some trouble clicking,” said tri-captain Louis Sears. “We lost that early one to Penncrest and it kind of set us straight. We’ve just been getting better ever since—bonding, everyone finding their role on the team. It’s really looking good.”
As it has for years, the SOL championship goes through Abington. In Hopkins’ four years on the team, he had never beaten the Ghosts.
“Every time we play Abington the whole team is in the mental zone,” said Sears, who is bound for Washington and Lee next year. “We are fired up that whole day just itching for 3:30 game time.”
After the first quarter, things didn’t bode well for the Falcons as Abington took a 5-3 lead, but the defense buckled down and allowed just two goals the rest of the way.
One of the keys to beating them was shutting down Princeton–bound Ryan Ambler.
That was Sears’ job.
He was beaten just once by Ambler in the Ghosts five-goal first quarter. In two games against Abington, Sears gave up just two goals from Ambler.
“He’s always a challenge,” said Sears. “He’s always fast and quick. We have a good little rivalry.”
Pennsbury also did it without two starters—their second faceoff player and a close defenseman.
Besides shutting down Ambler, Pennsbury goalie Drew Sweetland was a force in goal, turning aside 22 shots.
“He’s picked up right where he left off last season,” said Huber.
“Every team knows he’s a quality goalie,” said Sears. “He makes saves that he shouldn’t make.”
Pennsbury has been giving up just an average of 4-5 goals a game, while scoring 12.
With four games left in the season, the Falcons are 13-1 overall and 8-0 in the league.
After Friday’s game, they hope to be hoisting a second banner in the Pennsbury gym.
“We’re looking forward to winning these next two games and putting up the 2012 team,” said Sears. “That’s something special for all of us.”
•••
In other action around the league, the Continental Conference battle is shaping up between Central Bucks East and Hatboro-Horsham. The teams split their regular season games with the Patriots winning the first on March 30, 9-7, and the Hatters returning the favor on April 23 with a 6-2 win.
Both teams are 9-1 with two league games remaining. East plays CB South and Souderton, while the Hatters face CB South and North Penn.
In the American Conference, Plymouth Whitemarsh holds a two-game lead with three league games remaining against Upper Merion, Wissahickon and Norristown.
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