Penncrest rides great start to top Bishop Shanahan, win first district title
DOWNINGTOWN >> Depending on your rooting interest, the first quarter of Thursday’s District 1 2A Boys’ Lacrosse Final was truly glorious, or shockingly dreadful.
It was clearly the former for Penncrest, who poured in six straight early goals in the opening 7 minutes 18 seconds and cruised the rest of the way to a 9-4 triumph over host Bishop Shanahan. Seeded fifth in heading in, it was the Lions’ first-ever district title in boys’ lacrosse.
“No team at Penncrest has done this before – it’s just amazing,” said junior attacker Jason Poole. “We talked about it before the game and we knew that this was the team that could do it.”
Just two days after edging top-seeded West Chester Rustin, the Lions (13-7 overall) blitzed the second-seeded Eagles, and will head into the upcoming PIAA Playoffs as one of the teams to beat.
“Anytime you have an opportunity to win a championship you put out as much as you possibly can,” said Penncrest head coach Wayne Matsinger. “Our players knew what was at stake and they also knew that this was an opportunity to do something that had never been done.”
There was more than 40 minutes of lacrosse still to play after the Lions surged ahead 6-0, but make no mistake: the outcome was essentially determined. Especially with the way senior goaltender Andrew Wickman was playing, and the defenders in front of him.
“The start was the best we’ve had all season. It was like a dream,” junior midfielder Brennan Kaut.
“We just ran into a buzz saw today,” added Shanahan head coach Jon Heisman.
“The start absolutely killed us. (Penncrest) is big, fast, physical and very skilled, and they took it to us. They deserved the district title.”
For a little context, the Eagles (15-5 overall) entered the contest having won 13 in a row, and the Shanahan defense had allowed just nine goals total in the previous 24 quarters of action.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start. We just came out firing and when we are all connected, there is not much that can stop us,” Poole said.
“We called a timeout and tried to regroup,” Heisman added. “(Penncrest) got off to a fast start, got some good looks and we didn’t make any saves. So we made the goalie change, and after that (backup) Carson Binder stepped up a bit.”
As if blasted out of a cannon, the Lions seized command from the very start, scoring on their first three shots and then added three more before you could blink. And Kaut had a decent career in the opening quarter with three goals and two assists, which means he had a major hand in five of the first six goals.
“We knew (Shanahan) was going to come out in a zone (defense) against us, so we worked hard on making smart, pin-point passes and they know the gaps and seams in a zone,” Matsinger said. “When that happens, we have some lethal shooters. Brennan had the window to see those gaps and he’s so athletic, he was able to get off shots.”
Ironically, Shanahan’s Liam Blakely won all seven face offs in the first period, but the Lions transition defense was tremendous as it limited the Eagles to a single shot on goal in the first 12 minutes.
“We knew we were going to have a tough time in the faceoff circle, so to be up 6-0 and not win a single faceoff is unbelievable,” Matsinger acknowledged. “It goes to show that my goaltender, my defense and our shooters were phenomenal.”
Shanahan finally settled down in the second quarter, and scored four of the next five goals, but the damage was done. All-American Collin Gucwa notched the first two, and when senior Owen Mehok scored in the final minute of the third quarter, the Eagles a flicker of life trailing 7-4.
The home team had a chance to slice the margin to two with a man-up situation early in the final period but it didn’t happen. And soon thereafter Poole notched his third goal of the evening to end any remote chances of a comeback.
“You never want to relax, and I don’t think we did — we just took some dumb penalties in the middle quarters,” Matsinger said. “But my six-on-six defense was just tremendous tonight.”
Shanahan won 11-of- 17 face offs and actually outshot the Lions 15-12. But that’s where Wickman came up big, stopping 11.
“(Penncrest is) dynamic defensively and their goalie is superb,” Heisman said.
Senior attacker Trey Pompetti scored a goal and dished out two assists for Penncrest, and teammate Dylan McDougall had an early goal and an assist before being disqualified for an elbow to the head in the second quarter.
The Lions have now won three postseason games in a row after finishing the regular season with setbacks in four of the last five. And afterwards, Matsinger credited his team’s postseason surge with playing top-notch opponents all season long.
“When you look at the power rankings it’s all numerical, so a lot of it is not taking into consideration who you play,” he explained. “In my opinion, the Central League is the best public school league in the nation. There are 10 teams that make the playoffs just about every year and we beat each other up like crazy.”
Standing in line to get his gold medal, Kaut looked up onto the stands to a sea of happy faces and said: “This was one of our goals at the beginning of the season, to win this game.
“We wanted to let everyone know that Penncrest is still here.”
Penncrest 9, Bishop Shanahan 4
Penncrest 6 0 1 2 — 9
Bishop Shanahan 0 2 2 0 — 4
Penncrest goals: Kaut 3, Poole 3, Pompetti, Woolery, McDougall.
Bishop Shanahan goals: Gucwa 2, Shimer, Mehok.
Goalie saves: Wickman (PC) 11; Pezone (BS) 1; (BS) Binder (BS) 2.
