By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
DOWNINGTOWN >> The lone undefeated team in all of District 1 Class 3A for quite some time now, and on the threshold of a third straight conference championship, the Downingtown East boys’ lacrosse squad is a juggernaut. But the Cougars can still get nervous and underperform.
It happened at the start of Thursday’s clash with archrival Downingtown West at packed DeSerafino Stadium. But much like they’ve done all season, the Cougars found a way to overcome the slow start, crawl back into contention, and then pull away late for a hard-earned 9-5 triumph over the upset-minded Whippets.
“We’ve struggled with slow starts, and we were a little jumpy tonight,” acknowledged East senior attacker Taner Marusa. “We made some bad passes and some bad reads. To be honest, the pressure got to us.
“But we turned it around.”
Trailing the entire first half, and facing a 5-5 deadlock late in the third period, the Cougars scored the final four goals of the evening to move to 9-0 in the Ches-Mont (12-0 overall). East has another league road test at Unionville May 7th, but is highly favored to capture its third outright crown. There are, however, a pair of non-league road games at Upper Dublin and Garnet Valley – two teams in the top-seven of the District 1 3A Power Rankings – prior the playoffs.
“We are in the stretch now, we play multiple games a week, and some of those are going to be very difficult tests. Our work is cut out for us,” said Cougars’ head coach Joe Horvath.
“(A league title) is what you shoot for every season, and I’ve been lucky to do it a couple times,” Marusa said.
“I was on this sideline the day (in 2021) we lost to Downingtown West that took us out of contention for the Ches-Mont. I was a freshman on the (junior varsity). A little bit of the passion for that came into play tonight, and I wanted to do it for the upperclassmen who remember that feeling.”
The Whippets, who were fantastic in the opening 12 minutes and rock-solid through the first half, fall to 5-3, 8-5. West head coach Billy Davis, and senior attacker Owen Lundmark, each declined to comment.
“Rivalry games like this are always battles, and these are two fierce rivals,” Horvath said. “You can throw the playbook out the window. It was very competitive.”
Down 4-2 at the half, East needed less than seven minutes of the third quarter to take its first lead. Marusa kicked off the comeback, and then sophomore Keegan Kropp and senior Paxson Warnock scored just seven seconds apart to make it 5-4. Kropp’s goal came on a backhanded shot, and Warnock’s came directly after he won a faceoff.
“We came out gripping the sticks a little too tight. We had a talk at halftime and came out and played better in the second half,” Marusa said.
“We’ve talked all season about how we get in holes and how we come back emotionally and also tactically,” Horvath added. “We’ve been able to do that so far, but it won’t last forever for every team and it certainly won’t last for us. We are going to need to shape up (our starts).”
The Whippets’ Lundmark took a pass from teammate Dylan Cicero to tie it at 5-5 with 1:21 left in the third, but it would only last 13 seconds because Warnock scored again after winning a faceoff. In all, Warnock won 10 of 16 at the X.
“I have to give props to Paxson. He got us back in this game,” Marusa said.
“(Warnock) made all of the gutty plays, from facing off, to ground balls, to pushing in transition and staying loyal to the game plan,” Horvath added. “He was definitely one of our heroes.”
Kropp notched his second goal early in the fourth off a pass from Joe Morrin, and then Marusa registered the final two goals for the Cougars, both on feeds from senior Connor Sweeney.
“This is always a character game,” Marusa said. “We expected (West) to come out fiery – it’s a crosstown rivalry and we had everything to lose.”
It certainly played out that way from the start. Lundmark and Luke Kell scored early to give West an exhilarating start before East managed its first shot on the goal. And when Ty Raines added another, it was 3-0 through one quarter.
“We were emotionally too high at the start,” Horvath explained. “We were squeezing our sticks, turning it over, and we paid for it.”
The Cougars finally got on the scoreboard with a couple goals in the opening two minutes of the second from seniors Luke Fiorillo and Jake McMahon. But Lundmark added another tally, off an assist from Dean Hangey, to make it 4-2 at the break.
“We were nervous,” Horvath said. “At halftime we were able to reset and out our game plan back together.”
Marusa led the way with three goals, while Kropp and Warnock each added two apiece. Sweeney finished with three assists.
Lundmark paced West with three goals, but the Whippets were held to just 10 shots on goal.
“Whether it was six-on-six or man-down, our defense was out there playing their butts off,” Horvath said. “Our goalie (junior Brady Quinn) is a good communicator, and keeps things organized. We have some talented individuals on that defense and they did a tremendous job.”
Downingtown East 9, Downingtown West 5
Downingtown East 0 2 4 3 — 9
Downingtown West 3 1 1 0 — 5
Downingtown East goals: Marusa 3, Kropp 2, Warnock 2, McMahon, Fiorillo.
Downingtown West goals: Lundmark 3, Raines, Kell.
Goalie saves: Quinn (DE) 5; Guarneri (DW) 6.
