District 1 Class 3A Boys Lacrosse: Bosak, Ridley dominate Pennsbury
RIDLEY TWP. — Owen Bosak was aware of the playoff drought at Ridley High.
Last season the Green Raiders made it back to the District 1 tournament, but were bounced quickly in the opening round. The last time Ridley hosted a playoff game before Tuesday was in 2017. And the last time the team won in the postseason, home or away, came in 2015, when Bosak and Ridley’s current senior class were elementary school students.
The Hofstra recruit wanted to put on a show against No. 19 Pennsbury and lead the 14th-seeded Green Raiders to victory in the postseason. He didn’t disappoint.
Bosak scored five goals, all in the first half, and dominated the face-off circle in Ridley’s 20-7 trouncing of the visiting Falcons. Ridley (11-8) will travel to No. 3 Pennridge Thursday.
“It’s been seven years since we had a home playoff game,” Bosak said. “I told the guys that this means too much for us to go down. This is the last time playing here at (Phil Marion Field) for the seniors, so we came out fired up.”
Pennsbury had no answer for Bosak, who won 21 of 25 face offs and set the tempo for the Green Raiders offense. After Michael DeZutel gave Pennsbury a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into regulation, Bosak answered to put Ridley on the board.
Bosak found the back of the net three times in a span of two minutes, 36 seconds at the end of the first half. His explosion in the waning minutes before halftime put the Green Raiders in firm control. He pulled off some sweet moves, too, juking and twisting his way to his third goal.
Kolby Ranniello tallied to cut Pennsbury’s deficit to 7-5 with 1:23 left in the second period, but all that did was anger Bosak, who won the ensuing faceoff and darted to the net to score his fourth goal. His fifth and final goal with 55 seconds to go extended Ridley’s advantage to 9-5.
“We came out in sync,” Bosak said. “I haven’t seen us have a game like this all year with this type of energy. Especially from the crowd, too.”
While Bosak was thrilled to see his teammates rise to the occasion, he didn’t mince words about his individual performance.
“I was on today,” he said. “My wingers helped me as well, but I think I was on today.”
The Green Raiders put the game out of reach when they scored five of the final six goals of the third period. They outscored the Falcons11-2 after halftime.
Luke Showalter had a huge day with four goals and two assists. Defensive middie Bobby Soper and Nate McLaughlin, the backup faceoff man, got in on the fun with a goal each. Cole Wills chipped with two. Colin Wintrode excelled in net, stopping nine shots.
“Most of the year, we were in a lot of hard battles and our backups didn’t really get to play all that much,” Bosak said. “But tonight, we gave them a chance. Everyone got involved and that was great to see.”
