Spring-Ford asserts itself in second half over Perkiomen Valley

GRATERFORD >> In the first half Tuesday, Perkiomen Valley served notice to longtime Pioneer Athletic Conference lacrosse champions Spring-Ford—this year won’t be easy.

The Rams’ defense responded with a message of its own in the second half — it’ll be even harder to take the title away.

Spring-Ford (5-3, 3-0 PAC) continued its early-season dominance on defense, holding Perkiomen Valley without a shot on goal after halftime. Meanwhile, Nicholas Teets and Peyton Gensler combined for seven goals to power the Rams to an 11-5 victory at PV.

The Rams held the Vikings off the board for the final 25 minutes despite the Vikings’ ability to gain possession thanks to junior Matt Brock (11 of 15 on faceoffs for the day). The key was a team-wide defensive effort, led by long-stick seniors Dean Costalas and Nick DelRomano alongside junior Blake Terrizzi.

“We have some defenders who can really play—hard-nosed, tough, strong,” Spring-Ford coach Kevin Donnelly said. “I’m glad I don’t have to play—or coach—against them. When they’re playing well, when we’re not pressing like we did it the first half, we can really turn it on.”

It was a game of runs, with Spring-Ford jumping out to a 3-0 advantage before PV responded with four goals in a row.

But over the final three quarters, the Rams scored seven of the game’s final eight goals, with James Mullin breaking a 5-5 tie two minutes after halftime, and Gensler and Teets each striking twice later in the stanza to build SF’s ultimately insurmountable lead.

By game’s end, sophomore Teets led the way with six points (four goals, two assists), while Gensler pumped in a hat trick of his own.

“Last year, Jarrod (Marenger, SF’s leading scorer in 2018) and I kind of took Nick under our wings,” Gensler said. “It gives us a spark as a team when you see a young guy, a sophomore, out here playing like he’s been doing it for years.”

The first half saw the Rams pushed for the first time in the conference schedule. After winning their first two PAC contests by 16 goals each, Spring-Ford found itself in unfamiliar territory Tuesday when the Rams trailed well into the second quarter.

“The key is coming out with the same intensity, game after game,” Costalas said. “That’s how you maintain the legacy that the previous classes have built.”

That legacy currently stands at eight consecutive PAC lacrosse titles. For the Rams’ 2019 class, the desire to avoid being the class that loses that streak almost outweighs the drive to extend the run to nine.

“It’s definitely something that goes through your mind,” said Gensler, another senior. “But once we’re on the field, it turns into getting each W, and going as far as we can into the month of May.”

“It’s not on our shoulders as seniors,” Costalas added. “It’s on the team’s shoulders.”

Spring-Ford started fast Tuesday, causing numerous PV turnovers and cashing in with goals from Joe Morgan, Teets, and Gensler in the game’s opening minutes. But Brock’s dominance at the X (9-for-11 in the first half; both losses coming on procedural violations) allowed PV to go on a quick three-goal run in just 1:02 to even the game at three. Jack Scaliti’s tally made it a four-goal run to give PV its first lead with seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The teams exchanged second-quarter tallies before Teets’ second goal brought SF even at 5-5 going into halftime.
The Vikings’ start might have been even stronger if not for the efforts of Spring-Ford goalie Ben Swarr, who amassed six saves of seemingly increasing difficulty as the half went on. Twice Swarr turned away Vikings give-and-go efforts at the top of the crease that could have extended the PV lead.

For the Vikings (2-6, 1-2 PAC), the young squad showed clear progress from the beginning of the season as they matched Spring-Ford blow for blow for the first 24 minutes. Connor Roop paced PV with two goals on the day while sophomore Scaliti added a goal and two assists. Brock added a goal to go along with his strong day at the X.

Last year’s Vikings made school history with the first berth into PIAA states in PV history but replacing six graduated starters has been a challenge for coach Bryan Churchey and the Vikings.

“There’s improvement, no doubt,” he said. “We’re right there. Now it’s a matter of execution—we get the ball out of halftime, turn it over… [Spring-Ford] comes down and scores. We’re young, which means we need to work on being more disciplined, more focused. We didn’t do that very well in the second half.

“Spring-Ford always has a strong defense, and credit goes to them. But for us, the second half was a story of turnovers—missed opportunities.”