Spring-Ford ends Perkiomen Valley’s season, 8-3 in District 1-3A opener
ROYERSFORD >> Spring-Ford completed a season sweep of Perkiomen Valley on Tuesday, defeating the Vikings 8-3 and advancing to the second round of the District 1 Class 3A boys’ lacrosse playoffs.
Peyton Gensler’s four goals led the Pioneer Athletic Conference champions and No. 16 seed Rams, who advanced to Thursday’s second-round showdown with No. 1 Springfield-Delco.
The victory marked SF’s third triumph this season over Perkiomen Valley. The Rams won their ninth consecutive PAC lacrosse title with a 10-3 decision just last Thursday, and previously downed the Vikings, 11-5, back on April 9.
“It’s a challenge when you play the same team back-to-back in terms of matchups, but our concepts stay the same,” said Gensler. “We come out, we practice, and we do our jobs.”
Once again, the story was the Rams’ defense allowing Perkiomen Valley few scoring opportunities. A defense led by Dean Costalas, Blake Terrizzi, and Nick DelRomano and receiving regular contributions from Ryan Kolander and Collin Pettine limited PV to only 15 total shots, with goalie Ben Swarr forced to make seven saves.
Perk Valley lost a couple key contributors to injury during the contest, but Swarr insisted that didn’t affect Spring-Ford’s approach.
“Our team, we have the ‘next man up’ mentality so I assume they do as well,” the goalie said. “It doesn’t matter who’s out there, we’re playing with the same approach, same intensity.”
After the Rams built an early 3-0 lead highlighted by a crafty Brad Hart feed to Peyton Gensler, PV’s Jack Scaliti got the visitors on the board on an extra-man opportunity. But Gensler was able to turn PV’s fourth failed clear of the quarter into his second goal at 1:24, and completed his hat trick with five seconds left in the half to send the Rams to the break with a 5-1 advantage.
Peyton Gensler wins gb and scores with 5.2 to half, gives Spring-Ford 5-1 lead on Perkiomen Valley into halftime pic.twitter.com/FKi1kR6NtO
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) May 14, 2019
It would be more than enough for the stingy Rams’ defense, who held the Vikings to a pair of Connor Roop tallies after halftime, while Gensler added his fourth score and Patrick Wixted lit the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter. Brad Hart would close out the scoring with 2:11 remaining.
Performing admirably for PV was sophomore goalie Jake Klosinski, who notched six saves in his varsity debut in place of the injured Rob Farrington. Matt Brock was his usual stellar self at the X, going 12-for-15 on faceoffs.
No. 16 seed Spring-Ford figures to face their toughest test next as they travel to No. 1 seeded Springfield-Delco on Thursday. The Cougars topped the Rams 10-4 back on April 6, a contest SF coach Kevin Donnelly hopes taught his team a few things.
“We need to play 48 minutes first and foremost,” said Donnelly. “We had a slow start last time — if we can come out with the energy we had Thursday (in the PAC title game) against PV, that’ll be the goal.”
Perkiomen Valley wraps up the season with a record of 11-9. One year removed from the best season in program history (PV’s first-ever berth in PIAA 3A states), coach Bryan Churchey and his staff started fresh with a program consisting of about 75 percent freshmen and sophomores.
Perk Valley says goodbye to senior starters goalie Rob Farrington, midfielders Nick Beaudoin and Nick Steele, and defenders Connor Donovan and Tyler Wilhelm played their final game as Vikings Tuesday night. Malik Smith, Preston Golato, Scott Mahon, Nick Gilronan, and manager Ali Taylor also spent their final games with the squad. Churchey paid tribute to the graduating seniors while keeping an eye towards the program’s bright future.
“I’ve been blessed to have some great leadership on this team the past few years,” said Churchey. “and it’s a program mentality in the Valley. We’ve got 40 freshmen and sophomore coming back next year, plus another 36 freshmen coming up.
“But it’ll be a competitive situation — it always is against Coach Donnelly and Spring-Ford. They did a great job today — best of luck to them in the next round.”
