Lansdale Catholic cruises past Quakertown for 5th straight win
LANSDALE >> Grady Kelly is closing in on the century mark in both goals and assists for his career, but the Lansdale Catholic senior has his focus firmly on just one statistic.
“I didn’t even realize it until (LC coach Thomas Nace) had to tell me so it’s just something that comes with the game,” Kelly said. “Get the win and that’s all that matters honestly.”
Kelly began Tuesday afternoon’s non-league contest with visiting Quakertown with 94 goals and 92 assists and added three to each total as the Crusaders built a seven-goal advantage at halftime and rolled to a 13-3 win over the Panthers
“We just wanted to take it serious right away,” Kelly said. “Get a jump start and then kind of figure things out the rest of the way.”
Joe Walsh had a game-high four goals — two in each half — while Ryan Flanegan chipped in a two goals and an assist for the Crusaders (5-1, 4-0 Philadelphia Catholic), who scored the first five goals and held an 11-1 advantage after three quarters.
“We’ve been mixing up our ride a little bit and we’re just trying to get some different looks to prep for some later-season games,” Nace said. “We’ve been scouting a number of teams and it’s one of the things we need to work on. We were trying to put that in.”
BOYS #LACROSSE: @LCBoysLax‘s @jmwalsh410 with a shot that finds the top corner 1Q vs. Quakertown. Mike Basilii the assist. pic.twitter.com/5Ib58A5aeg
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 12, 2017
Lansdale Catholic dropped it season opener to North Penn, but since then has not lost — picking up four of its five straight victories by double digits,
“Coming in with one scrimmage, it was going to be a rough start. We weren’t sure how that (North Penn) game was going to go,” Kelly said. “But then once we got that game under our belt, we knew what had to correct and the way we approach things and it’s worked out now.
Kelly, a four-year varsity player, had two goals and assists in the opening quarter — his second tally with 48 seconds left making it 6-1 at the end of the period. He had a hand in both of LC’s goals in the second quarter, assisting on Walsh’s strike at 7:43 then scoring a 6:05 off a pass from Seamus Horan. Kelly added an assist on Flanagan’s third-quarter goal.
“Usually attackmen are seen as goal-scorers, the reality is he’s been the quarterback of this offense for the past four years,” said Nace of Kelly. “These guys have grown up through the program together playing as freshmen all the way through. He’s really put up incredible points on both ends every year. He’s a great, talented kid and he’s also unselfish.
“He’s the definition of what we look for in a teammate and he really embodies the values of this program in being unselfish but helping your buddies, having their backs and making sure that guys are getting opportunities to put points up themselves.”
The Crusaders created plenty of scoring chances Monday, but many came up empty due to a stellar effort by Panthers goalkeeper Chris Brady who finished with 31 saves.
“Goalie did unbelievable. He’s our MVP for the day for sure,” Quakertown first-year coach Jeff Royall.
Jeffrey Royall scored twice to pace the shorthanded Panthers (2-3, 0-1 Suburban One League American) as they lost their second straight game.
“We were short seven players, they’re sick or band trips or whatnot, we lost some key players today, so I guess we did the best with what we can for today,” coach Royall said.
Both teams in back in action Wednesday. Lansdale Catholic returns to PCL play hosting Conwell-Egan at 3:45 p.m. Quakertown visits Perkiomen School in a non-league matchup at 4 p.m.
Michael Basilii tallied the first goal Tuesday at 8:42 in the first quarter off a Flanegan assist with Kelly doubling the margin 14 seconds later. Kelly connected with Pat Albanese to make it 5-0 LC at 1:20 before Quakertown broke through on a Jeffrey Royall strike with 58 seconds left in quarter. Kelly answered back at 48 seconds for a 6-1 Crusaders advantage heading to the second.
BOYS #LACROSSE: Grady Kelly scores off a @shoran28_ assist to put @LCBoysLax up 8-1 2Q vs. Quakertown. pic.twitter.com/hhEBaB19vr
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 12, 2017
“We just wanted to come out and get things going,” Kelly said. “Just work on things — better shots and less shots than we’ve been taking every game and just little things that we needed to correct for the bigger games that are more important.”
Goals by Walsh and Kelly had Lansdale Catholic up 8-1 at the break with the Crusaders collecting all three of the goals in the third period — Walsh’s third of the contest making it 11-1 at 4:23. The teams traded goals in the fourth, the last by LC freshman Kevin Gianoni with 21 seconds remaining.
Lansdale Catholic 13, Quakertown 3
Quakertown 1 0 0 2 — 3
Lansdale Catholic 6 2 3 2 — 13
Quakertown Goals-Assists: Jeffrey Royall 2-0; George Fisher 1-0; Scott Keck 0-1.
Lansdale Catholic Goals-Assists: Joe Walsh 4-0; Grady Kelly 3-3; Ryan Flanegan 2-1; Pat Albanese 1-1; Michael Basilii 1-2; Dan White 1-0; Kevin Gianoni 1-0; Seamus Horan 0-1.
Saves: Chris Brady (Q) 31; Bob Bausman (LC) 6.
