PIAA Class 3A Boys Lacrosse: ‘Extraordinary’ Radnor defense paves way for state title

WEST GOSHEN – Grant Pierce had a little time to mull things over Saturday, as the Radnor defenseman exited the field in the PIAA Class 3A championship game with 100 seconds to play.

He was the last of Radnor’s indefatigable defensive unit to make way, to raucous applause, with a 10-2 victory over Kennett and a state title well in hand. And from that vantage point, Pierce had a chance to assess just what he and his Radnor mates had accomplished, particularly on the defensive end.

“If I were to use one word, I would say extraordinary,” Pierce said. “I couldn’t have found a better group of guys who wanted to go to work every day and put in the hours and get better and better at the craft and keep on working every day to get more and more involved, learning the game more and more and pushing it to the limits. They just never gave up, and I couldn’t thank them enough.”

The final chapter was just as exemplary as so many others for the District 1 third-place team. For the season, Radnor (23-2) allowed just 99 goals, a microscopic average of fewer than four per game, on the way to the Central League title and the program’s second state crown (2015). Twice in the last 16 days, it has thumped Kennett, which won 20 games and assembled easily the best season in program history laden with Division I talent, by a combined score of 21-5.

It’s a level of stinginess that boggles the mind, and certainly boggled Kennett (22-3) at W.C. East High.

“I would say we’re special,” defender Will Gallagher said. “We love playing together. We trust each other, play as one and get it done.”

Saturday, that meant pitching a second-half shutout. It took until two minutes to play for Kennett to even have a second-half shot on the goal of Robert Hobbs, who made six saves. But the defensive unit in front of what Pierce called their “security blanket” didn’t require it much.

Colin French with some moves. 2-0 Radnor pic.twitter.com/oggQaZLt3Z

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 12, 2021

As they’ve been all season, they were smart in their physicality, committing only one penalty. They were constantly in the hands of Kennett shooters, a half-dozen times checking the stick mid-shot to lead to wildly errant attempts. And they were outstanding on the ground to nullify Kennett faceoff man Richie Hughson winning 10 of 15 draws.

Part of what makes the defensive unit special is how deep they roll. Pierce, Gallagher, Casey Ott, Thomas Barton, Luciano Chadha, Reece Evans and Carson Smith constitute a ridiculous abundance of riches. For a team to have a replacement pole for man-down situations with one in the box is a luxury; to have seven poles rotate with virtually no drop-off is outrageous, with Central League player of the year Pierce leading the way.

Add in a Division I goalie in Hobbs and dogged defensive middies Mark McKeon, who had an assist, and Peter Vitale, and you have a fortress.

“They (Kennett) are a really good team, obviously, to make it this far. They have a lot of good guys,” Gallagher said. “But I think our biggest thing is we just trust each other, we play as a seven-man unit, like we’ve talked about all year. And we trust our coaches and just play together.”

Ryan Goldstein again to Colin French again. 3-0 Radnor 7 minutes in pic.twitter.com/AzE9JNj4yl

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 12, 2021

“We know we just have to play well enough because they’re always going to have our back,” attackman Ryan Goldstein said. “We can make mistakes, and we’ll get the ball back most of the time.”

Goldstein far exceeded the “well enough” threshold. The Cornell signee was dominant from the opening whistle, amassing two goals and five assists. He set up Damien Ramondo 1:25 in, then found Colin French for his second first-quarter goal and Drew Cox a minute apart to stake Radnor to a 4-0 lead.

Before the half was over, he set up Ramondo again and then went on his own, lowering his shoulder and potting a shot over goalie Jason Astle to make it 7-2 at half.

“When Ryan gets going, it kind of gets me going,” Ramondo said. “And once us two are going, everything starts clicking. And after that, everyone’s 100 percent and we’re all moving the ball well. He just starts it up like that.”

“We had a lot of one-on-ones and I thought we were good,” Kennett defender Vincent Cresci said. “I think we matched their athletes. But they had a lot of off-ball movement, and our IQ just needed to be there.”

Kennett mounted a charge between the first and second quarters, but it was short-lived. Zach Hulme got them on the board with a top-corner rip at 3:08 of the first, and Hobbs supplied two key saves to keep it from getting closer, including a point-blank Hulme denial on a quick change of fields in transition after a clean Hughson draw win. Buzzy Hertz then scored at 9:43 of the second to make it 4-2.

Jack Murphy has one job, and he does it well. 8-2 Radnor pic.twitter.com/FBta2AHVOZ

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) June 12, 2021

But that would be it for the Blue Demons, Radnor turning the third quarter into a scrappy groundball tussle, before Goldstein found Jack Murphy for a step-down, man-up rocket at 1:57 to make it 8-2.

When Goldstein roofed one eight seconds into the fourth, again on the man advantage, the game was well and truly over.

Add it all up and it was Radnor’s most complete performance of the year. But for Pierce, it’s more than just that, or this year for that matter. The post-game celebration included a chant of “Peter Samson,” for the late youth lacrosse coach and massive figure in the Radnor lacrosse community. And Pierce’s mind quickly went to the seniors from 2020 denied the chance to pursue what the current group attained.

“It’s amazing,” Pierce said. “The feeling right now, after we won, it’s so surreal. I have to thank Cole Schwartz and Jackson Birtwistle and the class of 2020: They sacrificed so much for us and they didn’t get to play their senior year, and thank God we figured out a way to get a full schedule and get full state playoffs. Because this was the greatest year of my life and this is the greatest day of my life so far, and I can’t thank the Radnor community enough and that class of 2020 that sacrificed everything for our class.”