Sports |

Kennett’s miraculous comeback stuns Pine-Richland

By Neil Geoghegan

ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com

@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter

KENNETT SQUARE >> It was an ordinary midseason, non-league clash that is easily forgotten. But then it suddenly – miraculously – morphed into a legitimate come-from-behind classic that will be talked about for years among the Kennett boys’ lacrosse program.

Left for dead after getting pummeled in the first half, the Blue Demons summed up the belief to keep fighting, and it eventually led to an almost surreal 11-10 victory over Pittsburgh-area power Pine-Richland on Friday afternoon. And the outcome wasn’t decided until a scoring combination from first cousins Bo Freebery and Jackie Good ended it with two second remaining in regulation.

“I am proud of our guys for digging deep,” said Kennett head coach Bob Allvord.

“This win was big for us,” added Demon’s senior goaltender Dave Cerezales. “It shows we’ve put in the work, and I think it shows the commitment and the dedication of the coaches. So to see it all come to (fruition), it’s a big step for us.”

Coming less than 24 hours after a hard-fought 13-7 Ches-Mont victory over West Chester East, this sudden two-game winning streak could become a defining moment for Kennett’s season. The Demons improve to 5-3 overall.

“Hopefully we are going to keep building from this and not take a step backwards,” Allvord said.

Trailing 9-3 at the half, Kennett outscored the visiting Rams 8-1 the rest of the way, and didn’t take its first lead until the final 97 seconds of regulation. It was a bitter outcome for Pine-Richland (6-3 overall), who entered the clash No. 3 in the District VII 3A Power Rankings.

“We had a game (Thursday) so everybody on our team was pretty gassed,” said Good, a senior midfielder. “We couldn’t clear the ball in the first half. But at halftime coach (Allvord) gave us a pep talk and we responded.

“We made some adjustments on defense, got locked in, and played a great second half.”

Good scored all three of his goals in the final 9:17. His first two came off feeds from teammate Nate Hulme, with the second coming with 8:41 on the clock and tying the score 9-9.

“Early in the game (Pine-Richland) was giving (Good) extra attention,” Allvord said. “But later they laid off him, and he had three goals in the fourth. That was a big quarter for him.”

Still deadlocked and time running out, junior defender Ian Guyer forced a key turnovers and seconds later Freebery put Kennett in front for the first time with just over a minute remaining. In a subsequent man-up situation, however, the Rams registered their only second half goal with 34 seconds on the clock to tie it again, 10-10.

But on the ensuing faceoff, junior midfielder Colin Kelly won it, got the ball to Freebery behind the Pine-Richland cage, and he delivered a pass to Good in front, which he buried with two ticks remaining.

It was the second late-game winner this season from Freebery-to-Good. The first happened on April 4th at Avon Grove.

“Bo has got eyes in the back of his head. He put it right on my stick and I had to finish it,” Good said.

“I call it the ‘cousin connection,’” Allvord added. “That was pretty cool to see.

“Bo is a great facilitator and he is such a good shooter that he is a threat either way. If the game is on the line, the ball needs to find his stick.”

The finishing fury was a far cry from a listless second quarter for the home team, where the Rams scored all six goals to seemingly take command. The Demons had all kinds of trouble clearing their own defensive end, and would have almost certainly been down by more if it wasn’t for Cerezales’ eight first half saves.

“It looked bleak at the half,” Cerezales acknowledged. “The big thing for us was to stay positive and keep rolling forward. In the third quarter we had some good possessions and found out where (Pine-Richland’s) weak spots were, and we locked down on defense.”

At the half, Allvord and company made some adjustments. But none of the moves would have worked without a buy-in from the players.

“After that second quarter, I won’t say I expected us to come all the way back,” Allvord said. “We played a very physical game with West Chester East (Thursday). It was a tough turnaround.

“The back-to-back games got to our players in that second quarter. But we had a good talk at halftime, and they challenged themselves. I told them they aren’t going to win this game in third quarter, but they chipped away. It just shows the resiliency of our guys to come back.”

An unsung hero for Kennett may have been Kelly. After having some trouble in the first half, he went 5-4 on face offs the rest of the way, and spearheaded the start of the comeback with a pair of goals to open the third quarter.

Kelly and Good led the way with three goals each, and Freebery finished with two goals and three assists. Hulme added two goals and two assists, and Cerezales had 10 saves, including a critical point-blank save at the 5:12 mark of the final period and the score tied 9-9.

“(Cerezales) has been showing out, and every game he’s been getting better and better,” Good said.

“Dave is a gamer,” Allvord added. “He has more competitiveness in him than just about anybody on this team. He can stand on his head, and he did today. He kept us in the game in the first half.”

Kennett 11, Pine-Richland 10

Pine-Richland                      3 6 0 1 — 10

Kennett                                 3 0 3 5 — 11

Pine-Richland goals: Zancosky 4, Jones, Hilton 4, Foster.

Kennett goals: Good 3, Kelly 3, Freebery 2, Hartman, Hulme 2.

Goalie saves: White (PR) 5; Cerezales (K) 10.