To view photos of the Abington/Radnor and Hatboro/Springfield games, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Alex Frazier
One of three Suburban One League teams advanced to the district semifinals Saturday, but two made strong statements to the traditionally powerful Central League that the SOL has arrived.
“It used to be, ‘Oh, you don’t have any Central League teams on your schedule,’” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Dave Sowers. “But now people will say, ‘Do you have any Suburban One teams on your schedule?’”
No. 1 Springfield 7, No. 8 Hatboro-Horsham 6
Hatboro-Horsham gave the Suburban One League some real credibility by nearly upsetting the No.1-ranked team in the state.
Hatboro-Horsham actually had a 6-2 lead in the third quarter thanks to a brilliant defensive scheme concocted by defensive coordinator Duncan Swezy.
“We knew we had to hold on, but we just couldn’t hold on long enough,” said Sowers.
Springfield scored the game winner with just under two minutes to play.
“The scoreboard will say we lost, but for our program it was a big step,” said Sowers. “The kids played their hearts out. We gave them everything we had. I’m real proud of all my kids. They left nothing behind.”
While the Cougars focused on Eddie Coombs and Ryan Kreston, Kyle Schwarz and Jake Durkin picked up the slack by scoring a pair of goals each.
“They stepped up,” said Sowers.
At the other end of the field, Dino Vitale kept the Hatters in the game until late when the wet turf played tricks on bouncing balls.
“The ball started taking some crazy skips on Dino,” said Sowers. “He was eating up shots and keeping us in the game. He stood on his head.”
Unfortunately, the loss pits the Hatters against Central Bucks East for a trip to states. The two split games during the regular season.
They will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Plymouth Whitemarsh.
“It’s a shame. We’re just going to beat up on each other, ” said Sowers. “We’d like to play some else and make a statement.”
No. 2 Abington 16, No. 7 Radnor 13
Abington guaranteed itself a spot in the PIAA tournament for the first time with the win.
Last year Abington lost in the quarterfinals to Springfield and then lost its next two games to miss out on states. With a win in the quarterfinals this year, the Ghosts are guaranteed at least a sixth place seed.
“It’s always nice to get a guaranteed spot,” said Abington coach Randy McNeill. “It’s where we lost last year, so it’s nice to progress since last year. Radnor is a very good team. They had five different players score. They don’t have a lot of superstars. They just have a complete team. Their goalie and defense played well. Any time you have five different guys scoring goals, they’re pretty good offensively.”
Seeded second in the tournament, the Ghosts are feeling a bit more pressure than last year, but they haven’t let it get to them.
“There are some high expectations,” said Ryan Ambler. “We’re not thinking about that. We’re trying to play and play the best as we can and go out and win. We’re doing that.”
As usual the Ghosts’ explosive offense led the way. Rich Rambo paced the attack with five goals and two assists. Joey Jones had four goals and two assists, Matt Rambo scored four goals and one assist, Ambler had two goals and three assists and Anthony Hensley scored one goal.
“They weren’t really keying in on anyone,” said Ambler. “They shut Richard off a couple of times, but they just played us straight up. Everyone stepped up and scored when we needed to.”
Although the scoring was explosive, McNeill was disappointed that the offense tended to force the play way too often, which created turnovers and ultimately Radnor goals. This was true especially in the third quarter.
“The entire third quarter we played defense,” he said. “We’d get the ball on offense and throw it away. It was a little frustrating. We definitely didn’t have our lacrosse IQ working today. We need to clean up our mistakes at this point if we’re going to be successful.”
The Red Raiders surged to a 3-1 lead in the first period, but Abington came back with a vengeance to take a 10-5 lead at the half and never trailed.
“As usual we got off to a slow start and gradually picked up,” said Ambler. “The second quarter was a good quarter. The third and fourth quarters they took it to us a little bit, but we scored some key goals.”
Goalie Jesse McGinley stopped 13 shots.
“Overall as a team everybody played well,” said McNeil.
Abington will meet No. 3 Conestoga at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Ridley to see who will advance to the championship game.
“Radnor was a good team, and Conestoga will be even better,” said Ambler. “They have a really good defense, and the offense is even better. It may even be a shootout. Hopefully we can play well and cut out some of those turnovers and win.”
No. 5 Garnet Valley 11, No. 4 Central Bucks East 8
The Patriots held a slim 6-5 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter when they were flagged for an illegal stick.
“The strings were a little too narrow,” said coach Bruce Garcia. “Whether it was the weather, I really can’t tell.”
Down a man for three minutes, they gave up three goals, which turned out to be the difference.
East came back and scored five goals with six minutes left, but could not make up that three-goal deficit.
“Garnet Valley was a good team last year and they are a better team this year,” said Garcia. “But by no means are they as quick as us, as fast as our team is or as athletic. We match up real well. After they go through their first three middies, it falls off the face of the earth for them.”
Garcia noted that everyone played well, but cited the play of defenseman Weston French in particular.
French’s job was to mark Garnet Valley attackman Eric Warden.
“Warden has the fastest shot in the country, clocked at 98 MPH,” said Garcia. “He comes up with 30-40 points in a game and he had four points. To keep him at four points and scoreless in regular play I thought was pretty darn good.”
Warden finished the game with one goal and two assists. His goal came on an extra-man play.
On offense, Alex Fetterman pumped in three goals, Conor McSherry had two and Matt Brodzik, Brenden Coleman and Rob Ferrall each chipped in one.
“Everyone played extremely well,” said Garcia. “It was a great game for them. It was just an unfortunate sequence of events.”
East has to win one of its next two games to ensure a spot in the state tournament.
The first will come against Continental Conference archrival Hatboro-Horsham, a team the Patriots beat on their own field but lost to on the road.
“It ought to be a good game for both of us,” said Garcia. “Both of us would have preferred not to play another SOL team, but we have to do what we have to do.”
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