By Alex Frazier
“Did we give you a game?”
That’s what Central Bucks East coach Bruce Garcia asked Conestoga coach Brian Samson following the Patriots 10-4 loss to the defending district and state champion in the District One Championship game at Radnor.
“He said, ‘Heck yeah, you gave us more of a game than we played in a long, long time.’ What that means I don’t know,” said Garcia, “but we gave them a game.”
Indeed, a stand full of frenzied East spectators greeted the Patriots when they took the field. The players fueled that intensity with more of their own, and before you knew it, East led 2-0.
Ryan Whitney notched the first goal on a diving shot from the left side, and 29 seconds later Sean Reilly won the faceoff, and passed to Warren Kuhn, who found Chris Vetter in the center for the Patriots’ second goal.
Conestoga scored a lone goal at the 4:47 with East down a man.
“We came out ready to play, and finished goals,” said Reilly. “Our team never gets intimidated. We’re fearless. We play with a lot of heart.”
In the defensive second quarter, the teams managed only one goal each. East’s came with 1:54 left in the half. Conor McSherry collected a Conestoga turnover, sprinted out of his end of the field, blew by two Pioneer defenders, dodged another and hit Parker Self coming around the left side of the cage. The 3-1 lead didn’t hold up long as Conestoga scored with 33 seconds left in the half.
Samson’s halftime talk must have awakened the sleeping giant because the Pioneers came out and scored five straight goals.
“We told them we were defending a championship, but it looked like we were playing tentative,” the Pioneers’ coach said. “We were getting beaten to the ball. East hit us around that first half. We said, ‘Fellas we have to bring it.’”
East finally stopped the bleeding when Ethan Debuque converted a pass from Kuhn with 56 seconds left to make it 7-4 at the end of three.
“They were firing on all eight cylinders and we were firing on seven in the third quarter,” said Garcia. “We didn’t pick it up until the fourth, and it just wasn’t enough.”
The fourth quarter was more of the same. East had a goal called back on offsides near the beginning of the period, but then Conestoga reeled off three more goals, and allowed just three East shots the entire period.
“They’re a good team,” said Samson. “They played extremely hard with a lot of heart. That’s a good team right there. We had a great third quarter and were able to ride it. We made too many mistakes in the first half. I was just glad we were able to get out of that hole.”
Certainly a bright spot for the Patriots was the play of faceoff specialist Reilly, who had struggled in Tuesday’s semifinal against Downingtown West.
Against Conestoga he came up with the ball on 12 of 16 attempts.
“I was able to pinch, pop and take the ball on some fast breaks and transitions for our team,” he said. “I was timing the whistle a lot better tonight. I was definitely clicking. I was feeling good and got a lot of help from my wing play.”
“Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose,” said Garcia. “They definitely came out in the second half and played better than we did in the second half. We played better than they did in the first half. We didn’t play better in the first half enough.”
Next Wednesday in the first round of states, C.B. East will face Ridley, which beat Avon Grove 7-4 for fifth place.
“We beat them,” said Garcia, “and we’re going to see if we can come back and play them as hard as we did the first time or harder and pick up a few things we learned from this game, and move on.”
Central Bucks East 2 1 1 0—4
Conestoga 1 1 5 3—10
Goals
First quarter: Ryan Whitney (CBE), Chris Vetter (CBE) Warren Kuhn assist, Bradlee Lord (Co)
Second quarter: Parker Self (CBE) Conor McSherry assist, William Flately (Co)
Third quarter: Connor Frisina (Co) Brian Dailey assist, Tyler Brooke (Co), Tanner Scott (Co) Kevin Rudd assist, Flately (Co), Brooke (Co) Lord assist, Ethan Debuque (CBE) Kuhn assist
Fourth quarter: Kyle Morrison (Co), Frisina (Co), Adam Goins (Co)
Saves
Harrison Holak (CBE) 8; John Lopes (Co) 5, Robert Zonino (Co) 4
Shots
Central Bucks East 21, Conestoga 32
Faceoffs
Central Bucks East 12, Conestoga 4
Penalties
Central Bucks East 8, Conestoga 4
Turnovers
Central Bucks East 19, Conestoga 17
Falcons fall to Downingtown West – Oh, so close.
When Andrew Probst took a feed from Dan Marr and fired it past Downingtown West goalie Dustin Keen, Pennsbury pulled to within three points (9-6) with 9:28 left in the District One consolation game played at Radnor.
The Whippets, however, answered five minutes later.
“It definitely cut our momentum off,” said senior Ricky Jutkiewicz, who scored a pair of goals. “The game’s all about momentum. Once you get it, you have to hold on to it as long as you can.”
But the Falcons were undeterred.
At the 2:45 mark, Ryan McDonald bounced a shot just inside the left post, and 35 seconds later, Probst buoyed hopes of a comeback, notching his second goal with a laser under the crossbar.
But the rally fizzled there and West finished third with a 10-8 victory.
The Falcons got off to a slow start, trailing 7-3 at the half. They played better in the second, winning it 5-3.
“The thing that surprised me is that we came out flat,” said coach Jamie Huber. “We were prepared. We had a good practice and a lot of film on them and we knew what we wanted to do.”
Calvin Hopkins led the Falcons with two goals and an assist; Probst scored twice, while Josh Caven and Ryan McDonald tallied one apiece. Marr had the lone assist.
In goal, Drew Sweetland had seven saves.
A fourth place finish was no mean feat for the Falcons, who entered the tournament as the 13th seed.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Jutkiewicz. “In the beginning of the season we struggled a little bit with putting the ball in the net. From the beginning of the season, we definitely picked it up. We’re all helping each other, and it’s coming together.”
Pennsbury upset fourth seed Downingtown East in the second round and No. 5 Avon Grove in the quarters.
“All the teams in the state know we’re a team that will never back down,” said Huber.
Pennsbury will play District 12 champion St. Joe’s Prep, an 8-6 winner over LaSalle next Wednesday.
“We never played either one of them, so we’re excited at the opportunity,” said Huber. “They have phenomenal programs.”
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