PIAA Class 2A Boys Lacrosse: Brian Box’s return paying dividends at right time for Marple Newtown

CONCORD — It may seem a little stilted to deify a player with two goals and two assists in a lacrosse game, like you’re trying too hard to fit a storyline to the facts. But the difference two weeks made was so stark Tuesday as to be undeniable.

Without Brian Box, West Chester Rustin had its way with Marple Newtown in the District 1 Class 2A championship game, 9-4.

With Box on the field Tuesday, Marple was in the driver’s seat, a 10-6 win in the PIAA semifinal that wasn’t really as close as the final score would indicate.

So which number to value, then, as the measure of Box’s impact on the game: The four goal contributions, or the nine-goal swing in 14 days?

“I feel like just watching that game, it was pretty hard to watch it from the sideline, not being able to play,” Box said of the Tigers’ district final loss. “I’ve been dying to get out on the field. It definitely brought a little more energy out of me, but everyone on the team brought the most energy I’ve seen all year.”

Box missed districts due to an illness. It’s not too much to say the Tigers’ state title hopes were questionable as long as Box remained so.

But with Box back, the Tigers (19-5) are back in the state final, a rematch of last year’s loss to District 7’s Mars Area (22-2) at 2:30 Saturday afternoon at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium.

To a man, everyone on Marple was better on Tuesday than in the district final, and it’s hard not to read a Box influence into that.

Alex Chambers went 15-for-18 on draws and was far more influential than his 10-for-16 in districts. David Bertoline owned his matchup with Marek Seaman, whose defense-distorting dodge chewed up Marple in districts, shutting him out until the fourth quarter. Marple upped its defensive focus, melding a handle on Rustin’s one-on-one with a better off-ball awareness. Where Jake Jackson capitalized for four goals and three assists in the district final against occasionally naïve marking, he was shut out for 46 minutes before scoring two inconsequential goals in the fourth.

Perhaps the most telling parallel is just how similar the games were. In both meetings, Marple led 2-0. In both meetings, Rustin tied the game at 2-2 before the first quarter ended.

But in the district final, Marple went on a drought of 23 minutes, 59 seconds. Tuesday, the Tigers’ defense blanked the Golden Knights in the middle two quarters, a total span of 29:58 that decided the game.

The difference was that ineffable sense of calm that a player like Box can bring. And it’s about matchups – when Box gets marked by the opponent’s best defender, suddenly everyone else has a more manageable mark, a cascade that flows all through the attacking six.

But Marple has struggled in its last two big games, limited to six goals by Mars in the state final last year and four by Rustin the first time. Tuesday, attack men like Evan Kostack (five goals), Joey Yukenavitch (three assists) and Jace Kostack (goal, assist) seemed freer, gripping their sticks looser and letting fly like the high-scoring attack they’ve been for the last two years.

“Offensively, I like to settle it down, get our offense flowing, be patient, but when the time comes, go fast,” Box said. “And a lot of energy as well. Every play we make, we’re all up, all excited and getting each other up.”

“It’s just one more guy to lead them,” Bertoline said. “This year, we had a lot of trouble with vocal leadership, and Brian really stepped up in that position with his brother gone. We had a big senior class last year, and it’s huge of him to come back.”

That brother, All-Delco Charlie Box, was on the sidelines helping coach Tuesday, after his freshman season at Cornell. Charlie was among a deep senior class in 2022 that powered the state-final run. This time around, Bertoline, Yukenavitch and Chambers are junior captains. Brian Box, as a sophomore, is a captain in all but name. Only four seniors get significant time, and most were bit players last year, with less varsity experience than some of the underclassmen. The oddity of turning to a sophomore to lead has vanished by this juncture in the season.

It doesn’t hurt that said sophomore has put up video game numbers in his first two seasons, the kind usually reserved for that one Division I player in a non-competitive league in the middle of the state. As a freshman, he scored 84 goals and 107 points. The five-game absence dampened this year’s stats, though he’s still at 49 goals and 73 points, third on the team behind Evan Kostack and Yukenavitch, who crossed 100 points for the season on Tuesday.

Before his illness, Box’s adversity in the high school realm was fairly limited. But the disappointment of having to sit and watch the district final has lit a fire. That was plain to see Tuesday.

“It was not fun,” Box said of the district final. “We played an alright game definitely, but today was so much more energy. I definitely brought a lot of motivation from that game.”