Bears bow out to Spring-Ford
The Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts boys lacrosse teams simply don’t know any other way.
The finalists of the previous 10 Pioneer Athletic Conference championship games each made it 11 Tuesday night in games similar, though far different in tension levels.
Spring-Ford, the six-time defending PAC champions, opened up an 8-0 first-half lead en route to an 11-6 victory over Boyertown in the opening game of Tuesday’s semifinal doubleheader at Owen J. Roberts.
The hosts and No. 3 seeded Wildcats controlled three quarters to build a five-goal lead before Perkiomen Valley mounted a hard-charging rally only to fall short of OJR, 9-8.
The second decade of PAC boys lacrosse starts the same way as the first: with Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts meeting in the title game Thursday. The Rams went on to claim their seventh straight championship.
SPRING-FORD 11, BOYERTOWN 6 >>
A dominant first half fueled the Rams into their 11th straight PAC final with eyes on winning their seventh straight league title.
Spring-Ford (15-2) led 8-0 at halftime but was outplayed in the second half, a reality the Rams weren’t pleased with.
“We’re excited to be in another championship, but mixed emotions right now,” senior defender Tanner Romano said. “We didn’t take this game as we should have and we’re going to have a hard practice (Wednesday).”
Danny Cassidy led with three goals and an assist while Jarrod Marenger had two goals and three assists and Ryan Rosenblum added two goals and three assists.
Even with some different personnel after last year’s accomplished team, the Rams are right back where they’ve always been.
“I’ve watched from the sidelines the couple of years and been excited for the guys on the field and it’s finally my turn to hopefully bring another (title),” junior goalie Kyle Pettine said.
The games only get bigger for Spring-Ford from here and another title turn in goal No. 1.
“Everyone always talks down about the PAC, but no matter what, this is always going to be a big game for us and every single year this is a goal for us that we can’t get anywhere else,” Romano said.
To Boyertown’s credit, it put forth a second half worthy of a team headed for the District 1 playoffs.
For the Bears (9-10), Brady McFalls had three goals, Nick Moccia had a goal and an assist while Skylar Wallace was a force on the faceoffs.
“I think we started off
strong all-around in the first quarter but kind of let them start rallying which led into the second. After the half we started playing better and that fourth quarter I definitely think we won,” senior attackman Jason Clinton said.
Clinton didn’t get on the scoresheet Tuesday, but for a player who missed two weeks with a hand injury, he’s thankful for the chance to simply be playing.
“It’s great. My hand’s not 100 percent, but I’m just glad to be back on the field in my senior season. I love the game so much so I’ll do anything I can to get back out there with my boys.”