Spring-Ford takes control in fourth for win over Penncrest

ROYERSFORD >> Spring-Ford’s boys lacrosse team did not play its usual all-around solid game for four periods, but the Rams were still sufficient enough to win their District 1 second-round playoff game against Penncrest from the powerful Central League Thursday night at Coach McNelly Stadium.

Second-seeded Spring-Ford used a quick flurry at the outset of the fourth quarter to turn an 8-7 game into an 11-7 lead, and then the Rams added another goal to create the 12-8 victory over the 15th-seeded Lions, who captured the state championship two years ago.

Dan Cassidy and Liam Hare were two of the Rams who stepped up as Spring-Ford advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal round against Springfield Delco at Harriton High School. Springfield Delco, the 10th seed, defeated No. 7 Haverford in another second-round game Thursday evening.

“We certainly know they have a good team,” said Cassidy, a junior midfielder. “We kept the lead. It wasn’t as big as we would have liked, but we kept it going.”

Spring-Ford’s Kevin Todd had three goals and two assists for a game-high five points. Cassidy netted three goals and one assist. Jarrod Marenger had two goals and one assist. Jake Hvazda and Matt DellaCroce had goal, and Justin Schwenk had one assist. Goalie Chris Morgan had 15 saves.

For Penncrest, Joe Quintiliano led the way with four goals. Kinnard and Bonnett each had one goal and one assist. TJ Sims and Max Daugherty each scored one goal, and Zach Groses had one assist for the Lions.

Clinging to the 8-7 lead at the end of three periods, the Rams started to find their usual rhythm at the start of the fourth quarter. First, Ray Orcutt scored at the 10:47 mark. Then came a score by Hare at the 10:34 mark. Cassidy capped the spurt at 10:24 to create Spring-Ford’s four-goal cushion. Cassidy added another score at 4:09 to account for the final margin.

“That was a big momentum swing for us right there,” said Cassidy.

Cassidy had a strong game at the offensive and defensive ends of the field, which is the way Spring-Ford coach Kevin Donnelly likes his players to perform. It is one of the reasons the Rams have had another exceptional season in winning the Pioneer Athletic Conference title  again and earned the Rams the No. 2 seed in the tournament behind only Avon Grove. Spring-Ford will carry a 20-1 overall record into the quarterfinal round.

“For us, we don’t like one-way middies,” said Cassidy. “We play both ways. If we are stuck on defense, we know how to do it. If we are stuck on offense, we can score.”

Hare has been a consistent part of Spring-Ford’s scheme as a senior defender.

“It was a good win for us. They (Lions) are definitely a tough team. They play in a pretty tough conference,” said Hare. “When we find our rhythm, we are good enough to beat anybody in the state.”

Success breeds confidence, and Spring-Ford is going into every game feeling it can win, even during these crunch-time district playoff stages of the season.

The rhythm is how Spring-Ford can score so many goals so quickly as it showed against Penncrest (10-10).

Donnelly was obviously glad to see his team win, but he and the Rams know they are going to have to step up their level of play as they march on in districts, where every game and step becomes tougher and tougher.

“We were very sloppy,” said Donnelly. “At times, we did what we needed to do. In the fourth quarter, we came out and played the way we are capable. We had a good first couple minutes of the fourth quarter for two or three minutes. We have that capability of firing away. We kind of do that, but we need to clean up our shooting. Every game is tough now at the district level.”

Donnelly praised Pennecrest for its showing.

“They (Lions) played hard,” he said. “They have tough kids. They came out and didn’t give us anything.”

Penncrest coach Wayne Masenger talked about Penncrest’s final game and the season in general.

“We lost a lot of close games, but we battled with them,” said Masenger. “We have had a lot of adversity with nagging injuries that kept guys out. Tonight we were severe underdogs, but we gave them a game. Our defense did a great job and my goalie (Steve Nolan) had a great game. Fast breaks killed us tonight. But hats off to Spring-Ford and their coaching staff. They are going to go far.”

Masenger said Nolan, a senior, played his finest game of the season in goal while registering 14 saves, including numerous crucial ones. Masenger thought his entire team showed a lot of heart.

Masenger said the Lions are going to miss their two senior leaders on attack, Alex Bonnett and Ryan Kinnard, who will be moving on to play at the collegiate level.

Spring-Ford held a 7-5 halftime lead.