North Penn starts fast, cruises past Plymouth Whitemarsh

TOWAMENCIN >> Through recent times, North Penn High School has been known, athletically, to produce some monster teams.

The Knights football program is rarely out of contention for league and district titles, its swimming program is one of the state’s best and its boys and girls track squads have combined for 17 District One team crowns.

But boys lacrosse?

The Knights’ last winning season came in 2006.

But this year’s Knights think they can change that long stretch of futility.

There’s enough experience, enough belief and enough camaraderie to make the team believe it can, at the very least, produce a winning season in 2016.

That push got off to a flying start Thursday when North Penn opened its 2016 campaign with a 17-8 waltz past Plymouth Whitemarsh in the season opener for both programs.

The Knights, who got six goals from Luke Homan and three each from Reece Udinski and Nic Conroy, never trailed.

In fact, they ran up the game’s first nine goals before the visiting Colonials could dent the scoreboard at the 7:13 mark of the second quarter.

“The most important thing about today was we played a lot of unselfish lacrosse,” said North Penn head coach Rick Smith. “To me, the most valuable player on a team is the one who has the most assists.

“We got off to quick start, and that was important. We came out on fire, and were able to put (PW) in deep hole.”

For their part, the Colonials were caught standing around early on, a turning point PW head coach Bryan Gregg chalked up to nervousness.

“Honestly, the worst part of the game was that we came out flat,” Gregg said. “At the beginning of the game we had a lot of guys who had a large case of the nerves.

“We just made so many mistakes. We threw the ball away continuously and made so many bad choices on our passes.”

And the Knights seemed to capitalize on every one.

“Our history and reputation is not the best,” Homan said, “but we want that to change.

“We’re ready. We had so many players who went into the preseason ready to go. We’re playing more like a team than ever. We’re close and we’re friends off the field, and that’s translating onto the field.”

After building a 12-2 halftime lead, the Knights watched as the Colonials scored the first two goals of the third quarter.

It was worrisome for about 3:30, the time it took for Conroy, Homan and Udinski to score three goals to close the quarter.

A little more than minutes later, the lead was 16-4 and the 12-goal clock was running. And the Knights were counting down the seconds to their first win.

There was no rest ahead, however.

Smith called an 8:30 a.m. conditioning and film session for Friday.

And the reaction? The Knights didn’t blink.

“We want to turn some heads this year,” Homan said.

And you don’t do that lying in bed.

OVERTIME >> Alex Savarese and Austin Betterly had two goals apiece to lead PW … Of his team’s shaky play, Gregg said, “We know the mistakes we made. For the coaching staff and the players, it’s back to the drawing board.”