District 1 Class 3A Boys Lacrosse: Morin, DiTrolio the x-factor for Garnet Valley

CONCORD – Lacrosse life is tough for Sam Morin. The Garnet Valley senior is an excellent defenseman. But the Towson commit has also had a fondness for the faceoff X, where he more than holds his own.

With their run-and-gun attack, the Jaguars are more than happy to have Morin do a little of both.

The fourth-seeded Jaguars ran past No. 13 Pennsbury, 17-3, Thursday in the second round of the District 1 Class 3A tournament. In a game that was 9-0 after one quarter, it’s hard to pinpoint just one decisive factor. But the Jaguars won 19 of 24 draws, and had poles have a direct hand in five goals. Interpolating those two areas leads to Morin.

Morin only took three draws, winning two, nudging down slightly the winning percentage that stands at more than 70 this season. He’s been taking draws since sixth grade, a role he defaulted to with no other faceoff-inclined classmates. The better he’s gotten at them, the more he’s wanted to keep at his craft.

Morin’s limited workload was due to the other Sam, Sam DiTrolio, who needed no help, going 14-for-17. When the Jaguars are up against it, the Sam-squared duo offers a disorienting change of pace for FOGOs, especially Morin with the pole. Thursday, DiTrolio shouldered the burden just fine.

“It’s a great combination,” Morin said. “When Sam goes, Sam will be the kid, then I will go, it’s usually the same faceoff kid we’re up against. We’ll switch it up on them and it gets in the kid’s head. Going back and forth, it’s great to have Sam. … Sam’s having a fantastic year.”

Its 14-0 Garnet Valley at half. Enjoy this sixth goal by Bishop Barnes pic.twitter.com/hnz519mrio

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) May 21, 2021

Once they get the ball, the Jaguars like to move fast. So you have passages like in the first quarter when long-stick middie Sean Gallagher scooped a DiTrolio win and scored 11 seconds after Ryan Nealon’s opener to make it 2-0 just 36 seconds in. Or the two assists dished by pole Luke Shoemaker. Or the attack headmanned by Morin in the second quarter, a tic-tac-toe goal through Max Busenkell to Joey Halloran. Morin also picked up an assist on a Halloran goal in the first quarter.

“It definitely helps a lot to be able to push the ball,” Morin said. “All our poles – Luke, Sean, Bear (Evans), me – we have great stick skills, which is great. It helps us move the ball and play at the pace we like to play.”

The game was just about over less than six minutes in, with GV six goals to the good and Pennsbury burning its two first-half timeouts. Busenkell led the attack, the Notre Dame commit scoring six goals to go with an assist. Halloran and Bishop Barnes had three goals and an assist each.

Pennsbury didn’t score until the fourth quarter, Jack Kalinowski breaking the ice, then adding an assist. Senior goalie Nico Cione acquitted himself well with 10 saves, including a couple of show-stoppers, among them a one-on-one denial of Busenkell.

It was more than enough offense for Morin to choose his own adventure Thursday, which mostly took him away from the X. For at least one night, that was just fine.

“It’s great to have Sam win faceoffs,” Morin said. “The more faceoffs he takes, the more break I get.”