By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
WESTTOWN >> The last thing Downingtown East head coach Joe Horvath wants to talk about is the prospect of a third straight outright Ches-Mont boys lacrosse title.
But after vanquishing yet another top contender – 11-5 on Tuesday at West Chester Rustin — the unbeaten Cougars will be heavy favorites in their final four league contests, and anybody who wants to get a share of the crown will need a lot of outside help.
“We really don’t think about that,” Horvath said when asked about a three-peat. “The Ches-Mont is a war-like league where anybody can be had on a given night if you’re not prepared.”
East improves to 8-0 in the league, and remains the only District 1 3A team without a setback. In fact, everybody else has at least two losses.
“With our schedule, I am not surprised,” said senior midfielder Jake McMahon. “But the real season is coming up.
“We definitely lost a lot of talent from last year, but we have a lot back and some really good younger kids.”
Combined with Saturday’s 8-7 loss to Twin Valley, the Golden Knights have dropped two in a row and fall to 5-2 in the Ches-Mont, and 8-3 overall. But Rustin entered the day third in the District 1 2A Power Rankings.
“This was a great learning game for us,” said Knights’ head coach Kevin Philibin. “And we won’t see (East) in the playoffs.
“They are an excellent team and it will be very difficult for anybody to beat them.”
The victory hinged on a massive scoring surge that started in the final 20 seconds of the first quarter. McMahon and fellow senior Connor Sweeney turned a 2-2 battle into 4-2 in the blink of an eye, and then East completely dominated the second period.
“That’s a huge back-breaker for any team,” Horvath said. “We know what it’s like to have quick goals scored against us at the end of a quarter.”
And the momentum boost clearly carried over. In all, the Cougars notched seven goals in a row, which put the Knights in severe catch-up mode. And with the way East was playing defensively, it was just too steep of a hill to climb.
“We have a lot of ability and a lot of potential,” Horvath said. “But there are things we need to work on – I think we’d all admit that. We haven’t played a perfect game yet, but we are striving for that.”
But the Cougars looked nearly flawless in the second period, scoring five goals on five shots on goal, and surrendering zero. Junior midfielder Ben Petrillo notched the first two goals of the quarter, senior Paxson Warnock won a faceoff and then scored soon after in transition, and then junior Jake Javadpour and senior Taner Marusa finished it off with goals in the final minute to make it 9-2 at the half.
“The past few games we are finally getting the ball moving, we are patient with it, and not just trying to go every chance we get,” McMahon said.
“We had a big second quarter,” Horvath added. “When you put pressure on and you sink a couple fast, that really reduces confidence and throws your opponent’s defense out of whack. It was our best quarter of the night, and we are going to need more of those.”
Rustin outscored East 3-2 the rest of the way, but it was far too late. Senior Jack O’Hora, sophomore Jackson Lamb and defender Adam Clute each had single second half goals for the Knights. Marusa scored his second and third goals to round out the scoring for the Cougars.
“We were able to rein things back in for the second half,” Philibin said. “We stopped the bleeding and that’s the best team we’ve seen this season, and probably will this season at least until playoffs.
“Take away that second quarter and the game is a little bit more even. (East) took their foot off the gas a bit at the end, so we would have to play our best to hang with them.”
Sweeney shared the scoring lead with Marusa with three goals apiece, and McMahon added a goal and two assists for East.
“(East) really killed us in the midfield,” Philibin said. “They were just bigger, faster and stronger.
“Winning three (Ches-Mont titles) in a row speaks for itself, if they can finish it off. That would be an unbelievable accomplishment. They have a great coaching staff, they have a lot of athletic and skilled players. They are just very solid across the board.”
O’Hora paced Rustin with two goals and Lamb chipped in a goal and an assist. But there was very little room to maneuver, thanks to an ever-improving Cougars’ defense.
“I don’t know if we have the overall talent that we’ve had in the past, but we have numbers,” Horvath said. “We have good long-sticks, we have good short-stick defensive midfielders, we have guys that can clear, and we have multiples so we can sub in and out.
“It’s fundamental defense by committee.”
East still has to play Kennett, at Unionville and Oxford, but the toughest Ches-Mont assignment may be Thursday’s clash at archrival Downingtown West. A win there would be another huge step toward a regular season championship.
“It would definitely mean a lot, to go out our senior year and win another undisputed Ches-Mont title,” McMahon said, when pressed.
Downingtown East 11, West Chester Rustin 5
Downingtown East 4 5 1 1 — 11
W.C. Rustin 2 0 2 1 — 5
Downingtown East goals: Marusa 3, Sweeney 3, McMahon, Petrillo 2, Javadpour, Warnock.
W.C. Rustin goals: O’Hora 2, Clute, Lamb, Beswick.
Goalie saves: Quinn (DE) 6; Brockett (R) 5.
