Upper Dublin remains unbeaten, dominates Wissahickon

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Jack Rapine is an athlete who can do it all.

And on this year’s Upper Dublin boys lacrosse team he’s being asked to do a little more.

Unhappy with the results the Cardinals were getting on faceoffs, the Cardinals coaches asked Rapine to try his hand.
So far, his hand(s) have been just fine.

Rapine controlled the draws and the Cardinals controlled play Wednesday night as the Cardinals trounced Wissahickon, 17-1, keeping their unbeaten string at the start of this season intact, and enabling the team to beat its archrival.

“I was real new at it,” Rapine said of his newest lacrosse-based skill. “But our faceoff guys weren’t doing very well.

“It’s something different for me, but it’s another challenge.”

And it’s a challenge Rapine is excelling at — with a little help from his friends.

“Jack is just a phenomenal athlete,” said Cardinals head coach Dave Sowers. “A kid in that size body and what he can do is just special.

“But he’s getting a lot of help from our wings – Nick Vernacchio, Evan Scott, Ben Abel and Michael Gillen — and if

Jack doesn’t get it clean, they’re there to get the ball. They’re working just as hard.”

Working hard is something the Cardinals are doing on a game-by-game basis this year.

Choosing not to look past any foe, Upper Dublin is taking no prisoners.

Wednesday, the Cardinals scored five times in each of the first two periods, then put the running clock in motion early in the third.

It didn’t help that, according to head coach Dan Layfield, the Trojans just did not meet the challenge.

“First, Upper Dublin is very good,” Layfield said. “But we did not play very well. We played scared, and we didn’t follow our game plan.

“We have to find a way to come back from this. We were brutal.”

The Cardinals got it going early, with Vernacchio scoring twice in the first period and twice more in the second.

The six-goal Cardinals’ third period featuring three goals by Michael Mullen, along with one from Rapine, who won the draw to open the period, then sprinted down the middle of the field to deposit what he said was his “third or fourth” goal of the season.

The Trojans got on the board in the fourth quarter, with John Dunn breaking the shutout.

“I have a lot of respect for the Wissahickon kids,” Sowers said. “They play hard and they play clean.

“Dan does a great job with the program. Their kids play the right way.”

The Cardinals, on the other hand, were not about to critique their foes.

“Our practices and our work ethic are a lot different this year,” Rapine said. “We’re focusing on ourselves and not on who we’re playing.

“We want to give everyone our best shot.”

LAXENDS: Michael Sowers led the Cardinals with four goals and four assists, while Mullen and Vernacchio had four goals apiece. Max Winebrake added a goal and three assists. … Wissahickon netminder Cooper McMasters had eight saves while UD’s Dillon Lojeski had six.