CB East came up just short in Tuesday’s District One 3A semifinal against top-seeded Avon Grove. Hatboro-Horsham saw its successful season come to an end in a playback game.
#1 AVON GROVE 10, #5 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 9
Central Bucks East traveled to Avon Grove Tuesday evening for a District One 3A semifinal game to take on the Red Devils. After a long two-and-a-half hour bus ride, the Patriots came out slow and fell behind 4-0 after the first quarter.
“It was hard for us to get started,” coach Bruce Garcia said. “We weren’t seeing the ball, the ground balls weren’t coming our way. Just a little thing here, a little thing there. We weren’t quick enough to get back on defense to play our game.
“We just picked it up in the second quarter and moved on. The kids never gave up. After we got started, every quarter after that we either tied or moved forward. We made it a game. Those early four goals were tough to come back from.”
Ryan Brown, with an assist from Ryan Stout got East on the scoreboard with a goal at the 10:47 mark of the second quarter. Avon Grove scored two more goals to go up 6 -1 with 6:05 remaining in the opening half. Garcia called a time out to regroup. Whatever he said in the huddle during that timeout certainly woke the Patriots up from this unexpected nightmare. East broke the huddle with fire in their eyes and quickly scored three unanswered goals to make the score 6-4 at the half.
Both teams scored three goals apiece in the 3rd Quarter, and the Red Devils held a lead after 3 quarters by a score of 9-7, but momentum had clearly shifted in the Patriot's favor. In the last 5 minutes of the 3rd Quarter, the Patriots out-hustled, out-shot and out-played the Red Devils. This momentum swing continued into the 4th Quarter, the East defense stepped up and shut down Avon Grove's offense, while Michael Ott scored two fourth quarter goals to tie the game 9-9 with 3:51 remaining.
Then with just 1:05 left in the game, Avon Grove scored to go up 10-9. East got the ball back, had a chance, but came up short as time expired.
“We had our opportunities,” Garcia said. “I certainly can’t say we lost anything. We didn’t win on the scoreboard, but we certainly didn’t lose anything.
“The guys played very, very well. They gave the fans who came to watch the game their money’s worth. Given another day, it could have been a totally different outcome. The score is what the score is. They’re very well coached, they have a lot of athletes, they play very well.”
The game was a far cry from the April 8 meeting between the two schools that Avon Grove won 8-3.
“We definitely played them differently than we did in the beginning of the season when we first saw them,” Garcia said. “We had two injuries at the beginning of the season – Ryan Stout and Michael Ott.
“Their first game was when we played them the first time, and they weren’t game ready at that time. We certainly have changed the way our defense works, but those two players were huge.”
Ott led the Patriots offensively with two goals and three assists, Ryan Stout added two goals and one assist, Ryan Brown and Ryan Bullotta each scored two goals, while Alec Bracken chipped in with one goal. Colin Stein also was credited with an assist. Ott had four ground balls, Bryan McIntosh had three, John Galow, Jake Kueny, Conor Larkin had two, while Joe Thiroway, Drew Bethke, and Liam Rosenthal each had one.
Defensively, Thiroway led the Patriots with two caused turnovers, while Galow, McIntosh, Kueny and Larkin each had one. Liam Rosenthal was strong in goal with eight saves.
Avon Grove (19-1) hung on to win this nail biter, and in doing so, will advance to Thursday's District One championship game against Conestoga (18-3). Conestoga beat Garnet Valley by a score of 13-6. Also Thursday, Central Buck East (16-4) will play Garnet Valley (16-5) to determine third and fourth place.
“That’s going to be a difficult game, especially after today,” Garcia said. “Garnet Valley played Conestoga today, and they’re probably just as exhausted.
“I think we’re in the tournament for a while. These kids are still willing to play and they want to play. We’ll see how we do. It’s one game at a time.”
The top six teams from District One will advance to the PIAA State Tournament that begins next Tuesday, May 30.
Central Bucks East 0-4-3-2 9
Avon Grove 4-2-3-1 10
Playback Game
#10 HAVERFORD 10, #6 HATBORO-HORSHAM 5
After the Hatters broke huddle one last time as a complete team, the squad's senior class and coach John Kurek stayed behind for a few extra minutes.
Standing in a circle on their home field, it was a chance for Kurek to say goodbye and thank the seniors for their four years of efforts. In turn, they had a chance to say a few things to their coaches and reflect on what they had accomplished.
It was a good four years, but an especially good senior season. It had come to an end earlier than they had hoped, but there was nothing to regret.
"It's a tradition we have, I want to give them their time," Kurek said. "It's their very last time we're together on the field. We talk about the season, I say thanks. They left a great imprint on our program. This season, we had a great record (16-5), a (SOL American) league championship, a playoff game and got to the playback round and just fell short (of states)."
The Hatters had no answer for Haverford's Luke McCallion, who won 15 of 19 faceoffs and gave his team ample possessions.
Even after going down 5-0, the Hatters continued to fight as they have all season. Hatboro-Horsham got within 6-4 in the third quarter until McCallion stopped the comeback bid with a goal that gave momentum back to the Fords.
"Even down 5-0, they still tried to rally the troops," Kurek said. "We started coming back, goal by goal in that second and third quarter. We just ran out of time."
Hatboro-Horsham moved into the American before the start of the season and made it known early on they were looking to head right to the top of the table. An early season win over Upper Dublin was their big entrance, and the Hatters clinched an outright title by beating Souderton in their last game of the regular season.
They did it with an attack that was largely brand new but again filled with seniors who play the game the right way.
"We had to rebuild most of our offense and our defense stepped up a lot this year as well," senior attacker Cam Knox said. "I'm pretty proud of our team. Hopefully, we can be role models for the underclassmen and they can continue to have good seasons like this after we leave."
The Hatters will return most of their defense next year, and Kurek saw something at every position manned by a senior that the underclassmen can take something from.
"I'm proud of my guys and I'm so proud of what they did this year," the Hatters’ coach said. "We won a league championship and it was great for us to have that our first year in the American. To win our first playoff game, to have a bye in the playoffs, it was just a great year for these kids and they deserved everything they worked for. They were hard workers and they got what they deserved."
Cam Knox scored a pair of goals for the Hatters while Tim McPoyle, Joe Larouche and Will Reimenschneider added one each.
Haverford 5-1-2-2 10
Hatboro-Horsham 0-2-3-0 5
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