Cox seizes opportunity, helps Avon Grove win its fifth in a row
LONDON GROVE >> Josh Cox and the Avon Grove lacrosse squad found out first-hand earlier this season that a devastating injury to one can be an opportunity for another.
When star attacker Preston Boyd went down with a season-ending injury in the 2023 opener, a lot of the scoring and playmaking burden fell on Cox, a promising junior with limited varsity experience. It took some time, but Cox has blossomed into a dangerous weapon, which was on clear display Tuesday as the Red Devils edged visiting Coatesville 11-9 in Ches-Mont action.
With the Red Raiders face-guarding leading scorer Trent Lucovich the entire way, it opened the way for Cox and he responded with seven goals, an assist, and forced two important turnovers that wound up in Coatesville’s cage.
The Red Devils – who entered the day 18th in the District 1 3A Power Rankings — have now won five in a row after dropping their first five, and improve to 4-2 in the league. The two setbacks were against Downingtown West and Downingtown East.
“We’ve turned a corner and are constantly improving, and that’s helped our confidence,” Cox said.
“We put the pieces together and started playing together. We finally figured it out.”
It was a valiant effort in defeat for the Raiders (1-4, 4-5), who saw its modest two-game win streak come to an end. Trailing 10-6 early in the final period, Coatesville staged an impressive late surge to make things interesting.
“You have to play 48 minutes,” said Raiders’ head coach Dan Ellis. “We have a handful of very young players that are still learning, and on occasion we have a mental error here or there. But the kids fought. At 10-6, it would have been easy to turn your back and say, ‘here we go,’ but they didn’t.
“I’m proud of these guys for their effort. The kids battled. That’s one thing about this team – we’re not going to stop.”
Avon Grove opened some breathing room by outscoring Coatesville 5-1 in a critical stretch from late in the second period to early in the fourth. Cox spearheaded the rally with two goals, while seniors Nick Marsala and Drew Spancake had the others.
“We knew Trent (Lucovich) may get locked off, so it’s next-guy-up,” Avon Grove head coach Brian Wallace said. “Josh did a heck of a job and the rest of the team supported him. And Trent did his job by keeping his defender away from the play.”
Down by four, senior attacker Owen Ellis sparked a final Coatesville push with a couple goals in the final 8:18. And when Jake Van Orden notched a man-up goal for the Raiders with less than two minutes on the clock, it cut the deficit in half. Derek Cooper had a chance to make it 11-10, but his shot with 1:11 to go was saved by Avon Grove keeper Owen Fennessy.
“Coatesville has a great team, and we know that they come ready to go, (Owen) Ellis is a great player, their goalie (Dax Shallis) is really good, and they have a solid defense,” Wallace said.
Cox notched two goals for the Devils in the opening six minutes, but Coatesville responded with three straight to take a brief advantage. Things then went back and forth with three ties and four lead changes in the second quarter alone. A goal by sophomore midfielder Brayden Cunningham (off an assist by Cox) in the final two minutes put Avon Grove in front 6-5 at the half.
“We did a good job on Trent (Lucovich), but (Cox) had a good day,” Ellis said.
“(The defensive scheme) worked against (Avon Grove) last year – it kind of threw them off. But obviously they had a plan for it this year.”
It may, or may not, have been part of the plan, but Cox certainly has seized his opportunity, and is running (and scoring) with it.
“I saw (Lucovich) being face-guarded, so I thought that this is my opportunity to step up,” Cox said.
“With our team it’s ‘next-man-up.’ This season I’m just trying to fill (Preston Boyd’s) role to the best of my ability. I expected to play this season, but not as much as I have.”
Wallace agreed: “(The injury) is not the only reason why Josh is playing. He was going to see the field no matter what. It’s just interesting how we adapted and found so early in the season that this was going to be (Cox’s) role. He’s accepted it and has done a great job.”
The Raiders had a 14-10 edge on faceoffs and shots on goal (23-18). Owen Ellis led the way with four goals.
“We don’t have a ton of midfield depth, and (Avon Grove) had the edge on us on some ground balls,” Dan Ellis said. “That was probably the difference.”
Avon Grove 11, Coatesville 9
Coatesville 2 3 1 3 — 9
Avon Grove 2 4 3 2 — 11
Coatesville goals: Ellis 4, Jo. Van Orden, Ja. Van Orden, Kerrigan, Clouser, Cooper.
Avon Grove goals: Cox 7, Spancake 2, Cunningham, Hepworth, Marsala.
Goalie saves: Shallis (C) 14; Fennessy (AG) 7.
