West Chester East upends Avon Grove, moves into Ches-Mont driver’s seat
WEST GOSHEN – A bunched-up mishmash at the top of the Ches-Mont boys’ lacrosse standings just got even more jumbled.
The sharp-shooting gunslingers at West Chester East started strong, and finished strong, en route to handing two-time defending Ches-Mont champion Avon Grove its first league setback. The Vikings wound up scoring seven of the match’s final 10 goals to earn a 16-12 triumph, and register one of the biggest regular season wins in program history.
“We haven’t won the league in a long time,” said East head coach Jim Schorn. “I don’t think, as a head coach, we’ve won it here or at Downingtown going back to the late 1990’s.
“Championships are elusive. We are taking now about making a run at the title.”
The Vikings aren’t quite there yet, but they are suddenly in the driver’s seat at 10-1 (12-2 overall), but will need to get past archrival West Chester Henderson in the regular season finale on May 7 to claim the crown.
The Red Devils fall to 8-1 (10-3 overall) and still have to travel to once-beaten Bishop Shanahan in six days. It’s important to note that W.C. East is now 2-0 against the other two teams sitting in first place (in the loss column) at the moment.
“This is a huge win for the program,” said junior attacker Joe Carozza. “We haven’t beaten (Avon Grove) since I’ve been in middle school, so it’s good to finally get them.”
Senior standout Jacob Greiner agreed: “After losing to (Avon Grove) pretty bad each time for three years, it’s awesome to finally beat them. This is one of the big ones we’ve been looking forward to all season.”
It was a battle between two of the top half dozen teams in the latest District 1 3A power rankings. The difference on this night was that East’s high-octane offensive attack scored eight more goals than the Devils have allowed in any outing this season.
“Tonight was a shootout,” said Avon Grove head coach Eric Jackson. “East has one heck of an offense. They took it to us.”
For the second time in a 24-hour span, the Devils tackled a previously once-beaten league foe from West Chester. On Tuesday, Avon Grove topped Henderson, 10-3. But a day later, Greiner, Carozza and company proved very difficult to contain.
“This is, probably, the best offensive team I’ve had in my 30 years of coaching,” Schorn acknowledged. “When they play as a unit, they are as good as it gets.
“We don’t want our guys to be vanilla. We are OK if they make mistakes because we want them to try to play out of the box. When you play for us, you don’t sit because you make a bad play. We want them to go out and challenge the opposition and not be vanilla. It’s hard to be scouted if you play that way.
“We have a bunch of guys who are not scared to go to the goal and break the defense down.”
The Vikings blitzed the Devils early like no other opponent this season, scoring three quick goals in the opening 2:58. At several points, Avon Grove trailed by five — its largest first half deficit of the season.
Nobody at Zimmerman Stadium was surprised to see the Devils push back, and they eventually knoted the score at 9-9 early in the second half. But East regrouped, scored four goals in a row to regain command, and then closed it out with a solid finish.
“That’s been a characteristic for this team,” said Greiner, who led the way with six goals. “We’ve been down late at least three times this season and have come back.”
The winning surge started with a goal by Carozza, and then moments later, Greiner converted a pass from his twin brother, Jeff, to make it 11-9 midway through the third period. Avon Grove was shorthanded at the time, serving a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Greiner added another tally about a minute later, and then Rocco Grello’s unassisted goal made it 13-9 at the 3:02 mark.
“We started winning face-offs, and when we get the ball we have six guys that can score,” said Carozza, who finished with four goals.
“Seven of our top eight offensive guys have been playing for four years now,” Jacob Greiner added. “Coach Schorn just lets us play, and it’s so much fun. We love playing together.”
Zach Augustine notched a pair of unassisted goals at the end of the third and the start of the fourth to keep the Devils within striking reach, but Carozza’s final goal with 9:38 to go was a back-breaker. Jesse Roth and Greiner added insurance goals in the final 70 seconds after the Devils’ had pulled their goalie.
“We teach our kids that as long as they grind until the end they are going to win games that are close,” Schorn said.
Ironically, Greiner and Roth also scored very early to make it 2-0, and then Seth Cohen won yet another faceoff and scored off a pass from Grello, prompting Jackson to call a quick timeout. Cohen won five of his first six from the circle and finish with 12 in all.
“Possession is critical for our team. If we get face-offs, I think we are one of the better team’s around,” Schorn said. “Our guys are very loose. It’s a full-throttle group of guys.”
It was 7-2 early in the second quarter, but Avon Grove fought back with a 6-2 surge to end the half, slicing the lead to 9-8. When Jackson Muller scored one of his team-high four goals in the first two minutes of the second half, the Devils pulled even. But it only lasted a few minutes.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Jackson said. “We battled but (East) was the better team tonight.
“We get everybody’s best game, but that’s because we’ve done well. (East) just fought harder than we did.”
Mike Russo and James Chastain each scored two times for Avon Grove. Roth finished with three goals, Grello added two goals and two assists for East.
This win helps us stay in the race,” Schorn said. “I think (Avon Grove) is the best-coached team in our league, but we just had a really good night.
“We got lucky.”
West Chester East 16, Avon Grove 12
Avon Grove 2 6 2 2 — 12
West Chester East 6 3 4 3 — 16
Avon Grove goals: Muller 4, Augustine 2, Russo 2, Chastain 2, Savory, Peck.
West Chester East goals: Ja. Greiner 6, Carozza 4, Roth 3, Grello 2, Cohen.
Goalie saves: Hanway (AG) 6; McAnally (WCE) 11.
