Terra’s goal lifts Marple Newtown to wild win at Katie Samson Festival
RADNOR >> It’s been a long time since Marple Newtown has been a championship contender, be it at the league, district, or even state levels.
The Tigers haven’t featured prominently in the Central League standings in recent years, let alone as a threat to do damage any further than that. This year, though, they have the makings of a team that can make a run in the Class AA postseason, as they showed Saturday at the 18th annual Katie Samson Festival at Radnor High.
Vince Terra’s third goal of the game with 2:27 to play capped a wild second half that saw Marple Newtown and Great Valley trade six-goal runs, with Terra’s tally giving the Tigers a 9-8 win.
“I wasn’t going to dodge. I was trying to pass it to Luke Jelus, but he kind of just went in, so I just thought I’d take the dodge,” Terra said. “I looked for the pass first, but it was going to get blocked, so I just took my shot and it went in.”
The Tigers (10-5) collected their sixth straight win thanks to Terra’s heroics, but it didn’t look like they’d need that in the third quarter. Standout faceoff midfielder Jake Huey was a machine, gobbling up all seven faceoffs in the third stanza as part of a 15-for-20 day at the faceoff X. Huey started the second half by zipping downfield and setting up the first of two Jonah Fox goals to kickstart an onslaught that also featured two Colin Ferry goals, one from Mike May and a finish from Terra.
In the past two seasons, Huey has emerged as one of the Central League’s elite faceoff specialists. His individual rise has matched his team’s rise through the ranks, and with Huey at the X, there’s little doubt that the Tigers can control possession in nearly every game. That kind of weapon has a way of making a major difference as the spring rolls through, particularly in the postseason.
“I just go to the Philly Face-Off League every Sunday, and John Bodnar just helps me out every week. If I have any questions, I go to him and he’s got the answers right away,” Huey said. “I got more help for when kids quick rake. That’s the reason I struggle, and John spends time every week on it. I think I have it down.”
That said, the Tigers’ fourth quarter left much to be desired, and it’s something that they’ll need to clean up before the playoffs if they want to make a deep run. The Patriots (4-10) posted a 6-0 run of their own on the strength of two goals and an assist from Ty Hayes and two goals from Chip Leland, both of whom finished the game with hat tricks. Marple Newtown made the mistake of sagging off of Hayes on the righty wing and he burned the Tigers because of it. Finally, Peter Oberly brought Great Valley even with a strike with 3:07 to go.
“That’s my favorite spot. That’s where I love to shoot and that’s where I live,” Hayes said. “I realized that they gave me too much space and I knew right away that I was going to shoot. I felt like we really had the momentum and we needed the ball one more time, but we came down and threw it away, and you can’t do that.”
On the bright side for the Tigers, they were able to piece together a win with leading scorer Al Viola (battling an injury) and All-Delco running back Marlon Weathers, who doubles as a midfielder, being held off the scoresheet. If Marple Newtown can continue to get good secondary scoring, it’ll be a tough out when the postseason rolls around.
“It’s good to have, because we always count on Al, but if he’s not there, we always have other people to step up,” Terra said.
In other Katie Samson Festival boys lacrosse action:
Episcopal Academy 7, Radnor 6 >> Jackson Birtwistle had a pair of goals and two helpers for the Raiders, who trailed 6-1 at intermission.
Downingtown West 8, Archbishop Carroll 4 >> Adam Ritter found the back of the net once and also set up another for the Patriots.
