Morin, Garnet Valley pick apart Penncrest zone

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MIDDLETOWN — Garnet Valley has seen a lot of defenses thrown its way. Averaging just north of 12 goals per game will encourage an opponent to toss out different packages in the hopes of slowing the high-powered Jaguars.

With plenty of experience, however, Garnet Valley isn’t fazed by adjusting on the fly.

Five goals from Jake Morin and eight assisted tallies in a masterful team passing performance guided the Jaguars to a 12-6 win over Penncrest Tuesday night.

It didn’t matter that Penncrest came out in a tight zone defense for most of the first half, something the Jaguars have seen sporadically this season. It didn’t matter that the Lions forced the game to a slower pace early, which doesn’t always fit the run-and-gun Jags.

Instead, Garnet Valley adjusted. Against the zone, the Jaguars deployed plays and personnel groupings usually reserved for man-up situations, utilizing their off-ball movement to shift the Penncrest defense just enough to slip pinpoint passes through the gaps.

And when Garnet Valley (14-3, 10-1 Central) connects like it did Tuesday, it’s hard to keep them under wraps. The best example came midway through the third quarter, when Morin snuck around the crease and took a feed through the area from Danny Bradley and dumped it into the open net.

“It’s so easy when Brads makes that pass across the crease to me,” Morin said. “I barely have to do anything; all I have to do is shoot. He gives me that great opportunity to get that one-on-one goal.”

More often than not, the passer did the hard work. Morin tacked on an assist with his five markers. Bradley scored twice to go with two helpers. Mitch Lachman scored two goals and an assist, Max Busenkell added two helpers and Bryce Stansfield tallied a hat trick.

The other big adjustment from the Jags pertained to who was between the posts. Shane Stevens was sensational early, making six huge first-quarter saves to keep Penncrest in touch. He finished with 11 saves, despite the Lions being outshot 31-19.

“Shane is a very high-energy goalie,” Penncrest attackman Joe Nichols said. “He helps us out a lot. He’s really good and really important to our team.”

“I think we needed to get our head in it, just shoot not at him but at the corners and anywhere where he’s not,” Morin said. “And I think we did a good job of adjusting.”

Stevens’ brilliance meant the game was still up for grabs in the third quarter. Garnet Valley led 7-3 at half, but the fourth of Nichols’ five goals got Penncrest within three early in the frame. Asa Tyson had a shot to cut the deficit further, but Nick Van Horn (six saves) fought it off, and Morin scored in transition to restore the four-goal bump.

Then came the seemingly inevitable blitz – three goals in 24 seconds to put it away, starting with Bradley’s stellar feed to Morin. Seven seconds later, Morin scored off an Adam Oldrati feed, then Oldrati won another draw and Morin set up Bradley to make it an 11-4 game and erase any doubt.

“That’s always huge for us,” said Oldrati, who went 16-for-22 at the X. “I feel like we’re always at our best when we jump out to a lead like that. Going into halftime, we talked about it being a closer game than it should’ve been and we’re still making mistakes, and we had to pull away in the third quarter.”

Not until the fourth quarter did a Lion other than Nichols score. TJ Sims had a goal and two assists, but the Lions’ offense never got rolling.

That wasn’t a problem for Garnet Valley. While it missed a chance to share the Central League title, thanks to Conestoga’s win over Springfield, the Jaguars will roll into the postseason a likely top-four seed in seeking to defend their District 1 Class 3A title.

“When we’re clicking like that, we’re putting up a lot of goals, it feels natural,” Morin said. “Everyone knows where they’re going and we work well together as a team.”

Also in the Central League:

Conestoga 10, Springfield 7 >> Jack Spence and Liam DiFonzo each tallied hat tricks, with Spence added two helpers, as the Pioneers pulled away late to clinch the Central League title. Jimmy Donegan made 11 saves, and Jack Clark scored a goal and two assists for the Cougars (15-2, 8-2).

Marple Newtown 11, Harriton 6 >> Vince Terry paired three goals with two assists, Luke Jelus added a hat trick and Zach Baroni and CJ Lane scored twice apiece for the Tigers (8-10, 4-7).

Radnor 15, Upper Darby 1 >> David Azzarano tallied a hat trick, Cole Albany and Drew Cox scored two goals and an assist each, and Chris Begier (goal, three assists) had a hand in four goals for the Raiders.

Haverford 15, Lower Merion 6 >> Kyle Bennett paired four goals with four assists, and Quinn Carson scored five goals as the Fords pulled away late with seven goals in the fourth quarter.

In nonleague action:

Episcopal Academy 11, St. Joseph’s Prep 4 >> Charlie Cunniffe had two goals and four assists, Rowan Brumbaugh tallied a hat trick and Jack Henderson went 11-for-18 on draws for the Churchmen.

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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