Meyers the X factor in easy victory for Radnor
LOWER MERION — As Radnor coach John Begier addressed his team Saturday afternoon, Tom Meyers and Jack Wilson pulled up seats on a cooler as the rest of the Raiders huddled around, standing, to hear the coach.
The prime seats were well-deserved.
Meyers dominated at the X in a game that Radnor controlled start-to-finish, and Wilson deposited three goals at the most opportune times in a 13-4 demolition of Conestoga in the PIAA quarterfinals at Harriton High School.
The win earns Radnor (19-6) a modicum of revenge after they dropped a 6-5 decision to the Pioneers in the District One semis last week. District One’s third seed advances to next Tuesday’s PIAA semifinal against Central League foe Springfield, which claimed the second quarterfinal, 8-3, over Central Bucks East.
As it often does for the Raiders, Saturday’s comprehensive effort started on draws with Meyers, who was next-to-unbeatable. The senior claimed 17 of 19 draws, repelling the five would-be challengers Conestoga offered, to the point that coach Brody Bush had to concede possession and hope to merely contain Meyers or force a turnover.
But what Meyers did with the ball was even more impressive. He scored twice, including a crucial tally 11 seconds after Conestoga finally got on the board midway through the second quarter, and assisted on another goal.
The effort represented Meyers’ first multi-goal game of the season and just his second multi-point outing.
“If it’s there, I’m going to take it,’ he said. “If it’s not, I’m going to play smart and give it to our attackmen. Our attackmen can control the pace of the game.’
The ever-vocal Wilson, meanwhile, was primarily responsible for rallying the troops, with his words and his play. A central facet of the messaging this week has been that the Raiders orchestrated their own downfall in the semis against Conestoga, underestimating a team they had beaten in the regular season and assuming that a two-goal lead in the first quarter would be enough, even as they took their foot off the gas when Conestoga surged in the second quarter of that game, precipitating an insurmountable 25-minute goal drought.
“I think last game, we came out kind of entitled,’ Meyers said. “We thought that since we beat them in the regular season, they were going to roll over for us. We came out over our skis and they beat us, so it was a good eye-opener.’
Wilson’s impact didn’t end once the pregame huddle broke. He scored 59 seconds into the game, one of two tallies he’d contribute to the five unanswered goals the Raiders used to kick off proceedings.
The midfielder completed his hat trick 21 seconds into the third quarter, elongating the lead to what seemed an irretrievable 7-2.
And thanks to a halftime conversation that fixated on the negative of losing the second quarter, 2-1, rather than the positive of winning the first half, 6-2, Wilson made sure the group remained hungry.
“We talked about how we lost the second quarter and how the next quarter is the biggest one,’ Wilson said. “We just have to come out and play our hardest.’
If Conestoga was wobbling out of its corner to start the second half, it hit the canvas with a thud inside of 50 seconds. Meyers cashed in on his personal game of make-it-take-it 11 seconds after Wilson’s goal. Then 28 seconds later, after Meyers emerged from a scrum on one of only a handful of contentious faceoff wins, he dished to defenseman Mike Farnish to bury one.
That flurry left Conestoga’s backup goalie Jack Green — who’d been rather perplexingly inserted at halftime after starter John Roulston appeared to rally with six second-quarter saves — staggered and the Pioneers with no hope of rebounding.
Drew Ryan scored two of his four goals in the third quarter to formally end the drama and solidify the rout. Even though Conestoga effectively shut of Jack Norton, who had just one assist, with the constant hounding of Jack Reilly, Radnor uncovered other outlets, helped by two assists each from Clayton Proctor and Mike Thompson.
While Quinn Bridge pegged a goal back as time expired in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 11-4, the combination of Meyers’ faceoff prowess, Alex Andersen’s solid goaltending (nine saves) and some wise and disciplined offensive possessions led to a calm final 12 minutes.
