Kennett ousts Unionville, adds another historic milestone to 2021 season
KENNETT SQUARE >> A perfect regular season already in the books, the Kennett boys’ lacrosse squad opened the postseason with, perhaps, its best overall performance of a 2021 campaign filled with historic accomplishments.
In round two of the District 1 3A Playoffs, the Blue Demons never trailed and proceeded to roll over Unionville, 14-3, on Thursday evening to advance to the quarterfinals. It came in impressive fashion against an archrival that was highly motivated knock off top-seeded Kennett and end their season.
“(Kennett) is a heck of a team, top to bottom,” said Unionville head coach Steve Holmes. “They have athletes everywhere, and we gave them a few too many chances early.”
Ten days after capturing the program’s first-ever Ches-Mont league championship, the Demons (18-0 overall) added another first to the record books by notching the first boys’ lacrosse district triumph in school history.
“We checked a box today,” said Bob Allvord, who is in his second stint as the Kennett head coach. “This is my fifth time trying, so to finally get it is pretty special for the program.
“I’m not satisfied, but I’m very happy. As the kids said, it’s a good start but we aren’t done.”
Next up is eighth-seeded Conestoga 13-4), a perennial state power, who advanced with an 18-8 win over Methacton. The contest will take place on Saturday, at 6 p.m., with the winner moving on to the semis.
“We all have the same mindset: this is the year to do it,” said senior defender Vince Cresci. “This is the best team I’ve ever been a part of.
“This is the year for Kennett – all the pieces have come together through all of the hard work of building this program from the ground up.”
It marked the end of the season for the 16th seeded Longhorns, who went 12-5 overall and won 10 of their final dozen outings. The only two exceptions came against the Blue Demons.
“We were as prepared as I think we could be,” Holmes said. “The boys were focused and relaxed, and we had a good game plan. But a couple sloppy turnovers hurt us.
“We wanted to put ourselves in a position to play the best and see how far we could go. It was an awesome atmosphere tonight, and the boys deserved that.”
In the lone regular season meeting, Kennett trailed early in the second half but finished the game on a 10-0 run. It wasn’t as close this time, and afterwards Allvord talked about how his team came into the rematch with a different focus.
“We knew (Unionville) was coming for us,” he said. “But unlike the first time around, we went into this game with a little bit of a different mindset: it wasn’t about a crosstown rivalry this time, it was about checking that next box for the program.”
The key sequence in the latest ‘Battle of Route 82’ came in the closing minutes of the opening period. With the score deadlocked 1-1, the Demons first killed off a two-minute penalty and then immediately poured in three goals in an 87 second frenzy to establish a lead they would never surrender.
“I remember saying, ‘we need to weather this storm,’” Allvord said. “It was a very early, but pivotal part of the game. The fact that we shut that down was a momentum changer, and then we went to work.”
It started with a bang-bang play from junior Jake Freeberry to senior Evan Hartmann, and then continued with back-to-back goals by sophomore Zach Hulme separated by just nine seconds (and a clean face off win by Richie Hughson).
“We’ve been doing that all season, but usually it happens in the third quarter. To do that early, that really got our confidence up,” Hartmann said.
“You want to cash in on the opportunities you have,” Holmes added. “And we’ve had an awesome man-up all season, but (Kennett) has some really active sticks that we really haven’t seen all season. They have a great defense.”
Gray Dinsel notched his second of two first half goals for the Longhorns early in the second quarter, but Kennett stormed back with three more before the half. The last two featured Freeberry’s uncanny ability to find cutting teammates from behind the cage – one to Hartmann and another to Hughson.
Freeberry finished with a goal and six assists.
“It’s so nice, he is always looking to get you the ball in the middle,” Hartmann said.
“Jake was just dealing the ball,” Allvord added. “And it doesn’t seem to matter how he’s defended, he seems to find a way. He is a very cerebral player.
“And there are a lot of targets out there. We are all aware that there is plenty to go around. That is, without a doubt, a strength of ours.”
Down 7-2 at the half, the ’Horns quickly became disheartened when the Demons added four more unanswered goals in the third, including a pair of highlight-reel goals by Sam Forte. Hartmann then notched his third goal early in the final period to cap an 8-0 rally.
“Winning a district game was a big goal for us,” Hartmann said. “Everyone around here knows how big Kennett lacrosse is right now, so having the home field advantage and having so many people out here having our backs, it’s been a lot of fun.”
Hulme and Forte wound up with five and four goals, respectively, and led the way as Kennett outshot the Longhorns 30-8. And the score would have been even more lopsided if not for the stellar play of Unionville keeper Nico Kotch, who finished with 16 saves.
“Everyone sees the offensive firepower of our team, but I think the defense is the glue,” Cresci said.
“We are definitely playing for the big one – the state championship. The rivalry was in the back of everyone’s mind, but we are looking to bigger things.”
And so the question remains: was it the best performance of the season, especially considering the stakes?
“It was definitely one of them,” Hartmann said.
“This was one of our best games of the season, for sure,” Cresci added.
But the Demons are probably going to have to elevate things even more in order to win three more times to capture the district crown — which is now the next major box to check.
Kennett 14, Unionville 3
Unionville 1 1 0 1 — 3
Kennett 4 3 4 3 — 14
Unionville goals: Dinsel 2, Farrell.
Kennett goals: Forte 4, Hulme 5, Hartmann 3, Good, Hughson.
Goalie saves: Kotch (U) 16; Astle (K) 5.
