Pennsbury High School Boys Lacrosse
>Fairless Hills, PA
>March 20, 2009
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>The Pennsbury Boys lacrosse team kicked off their 2009 campaign with a 13-8 home victory over the visiting Plymouth-Whitemarsh Colonials. With the score a thin 6-5 margin for PHS early in the third period, the Falcons went on a 7-3 roll spanning the third and fourth quarters to pull away with the win. The game saw freshman attacker Calvin Hopkins not only score his first varsity goal, but put up a hat trick. The Pennsbury team used quick ball movement and unselfish passing to create scoring opportunities and control offensive possession time.
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>Attackman Kenneth Warren had five assists and one goal, and Middie Shawn Caven had four assists and two goals to lead the Falcons in scoring. The PHS offense also featured a second middie line consisting of three freshmen, Ryan McDonald, Evan Caterson and Luke Matthews, who had helped lead their Lower Bucks Blue Wave A-1 team to the 2008 SEPYLA championship last year. Evan also scored his first varsity goal and also contributed at face-off.
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>In a “battle of the Shawns” (Shawn Caven – PHS, and Shawn Kaplan – PWM) at the face-off, Pennsbury won 18 of 23 of the contests 'at the X' against the Ohio State bound Kaplan. With the score 6-3 PHS at the half, Plymouth-Whitemarsh came out strong in the second half with two quick goals. The first on a man-up opportunity and the second starting with a win from the face-off leading to a quick shot and score. Digging down deep, PHS goalie David Cutler then made consecutive saves on the Colonials next two shots to cut short the PWM team's momentum and start the next Falcon scoring surge. Shawn Caven fed attacker Peter Sweetland (four goals, 1 assist) on an athletic “leap, catch and score”, and then Ricky Jutkiewicz with a rip from up top (2 goals) to regain the initiative.
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>The Pennsbury defense was lead by super sophomore Dan Marr, who challenged every Colonial ball carrier, resulting in a number of strips and key turnovers. Late in the game, senior Ryan Brim took a loose ball into the offensive end and passed off. After a quick shot and save, Ryan muscled into a scrum, came up with the ground ball, and ripped a bounce shot into the bottom right corner for a defensive score. The Falcon defense played strongly throughout the game, with four of the eight Plymouth-Whitemarsh goals coming on man-up opportunities.
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>This is the second consecutive year that the Suburban One American Plymouth-Whitemarsh and the Suburban One National Pennsbury lax teams have kicked off the season together, with PHS winning the 2008 season opener at PWHS in a close fought overtime victory. PHS holds a 3-0 over PWHS in their all-time series.
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