West Chester East beats Henderson for first outright Ches-Mont crown in 30 years
WEST CHESTER >> To say it was the biggest day in West Chester East boys’ lacrosse history may be a bit over the top. Let’s just say, definitively, that it was tops in the last 30 years.
The Vikings staged a come-from-behind 11-8 triumph over archrival West Chester Henderson to capture the program’s first outright Ches-Mont crown since 1989. And East did it on the road, despite a dominating faceoff performance by the Warriors’ Luke Wierman, and even managed to overcome an apparent missed goal in the first half.
“I can’t really put it into words, it feels so good,” said senior Ben DeLaney, who scored the game winner.
“We are a smaller school in the league, so we have fewer athletes to pick from,” said Vikings’ head coach Jim Schorn. “Some schools have 120 kids out for tryouts, and we’re getting 45-50.
“So when you get a good group of guys, you want to get the most out of it that you can. We are going to celebrate this.”
And if that wasn’t enough, the Vikings also prevailed against Henderson for the first time since the Annual Drew Bauer Memorial City Championship Trophy was first introduced in 2012. Bauer was an All-State player at East a decade ago and was tragically killed in a boating accident in 2011.
“This is really special,” said senior Rocco Grello, who became East’s first-ever Bauer Blue Collar Award winner after scoring three goals and dishing out three assists.
“We played hard and Luke (Wierman) kept us in it,” said Warriors’ head coach Paul Stankiewicz. “But (East) is a better team.”
The Vikings wrap up the regular season at 14-2 overall, and finished 10-1 in the league. Bishop Shanahan is 9-1 with one match to play, but East topped the Eagles 11-10 back on March 28th. Henderson falls to 7-3, 10-5 overall.
“We’ve been down in a lot of games coming down the stretch this season,” Schorn explained. “We’ve had a lot of success coming back and winning them. Our players know they can play loose and play to the end and that they are going to be at their best.”
That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday evening. The Vikings trailed for a big chunk of the action, and were down 7-5 with less than five minutes left on the clock in the third period. But East wound up scoring seven of the games last nine goals.
At 7-7, Delaney gave the Vikings the lead for good with a goal in the final 10 seconds of the third following a late Henderson turnover. DeLaney then converted a blistering cross-field pass from teammate Jacob Greiner after East won its only second half faceoff against Wierman early in the final period.
“That pass was about 100 miles an hour – you can’t stop those,” Stankiewicz said.
Grello then added a couple insurance goals the rest of the way to wrap it up.
“(East) started to get us in transition and they made smart plays,” Stankiewicz said.
“Our defense kept us in it and our offense has great chemistry, we moved the ball around, we got out in transition and got some easy goals,” Grello added.
DeLaney and Greiner each wound up with three goals and an assist. Wierman and Jeff Benson had two goals apiece for the Warriors. But, most impressively, Wierman won 17 of 22 faceoffs, and 11 of 12 in the second half.
“For (Henderson) to get all of those possessions and for us to come out on top is very uncharacteristic to this rivalry,” Schorn said. “That goes to the grit and heart that this team has.”
West Chester East last won a share of the Ches-Mont boys’ lacrosse title in 2005. But the last outright crown was in 1989. The year prior, the Vikings went 21-0 and won the state title.
“Most of the seniors have been playing together since sixth grade,” DeLaney said.
“In eighth grade, we went undefeated at Fugett (Middle School), and ever since then we’ve been talking about our senior year in high school,” Grello added.
After falling behind 3-0 in the early going, Henderson regrouped, found a way to slow the pace and quickly got back into contention. It also helped that Wierman started dominating in the faceoff circle.
Luck was not on East’s side midway through the second quarter when a shot by Jeff Greiner appeared to score but it apparently slipped through a hole in the Henderson net, which was missed by the officials. Several minutes later, the officials stopped play and the hole was fixed, but it was too late to correct the error.
The Warriors led 5-4 at the half, and twice had a two-goal lead in the second half.
“We got a little frustrated when we couldn’t win any face offs, but we rallied,” DeLaney pointed out. “We know the kind of talent we have.
“It feels so sweet to get the title outright with all of my boys.”
After accepting the Drew Bauer Trophy, the Vikings celebrated the double milestone. Currently third in the District 1 3A power rankings, East will now turn its attention to the postseason.
“This has been a unique year with this group,” Schorn said. “My phone rang a lot because they wanted to practice and workout, and if I couldn’t go, they went. They put the time in.
“Us as coaches, we don’t make seasons. We might help in a game or two, but the kids win and lose the games.”
West Chester East 11, West Chester Henderson 8
West Chester East 3 1 4 3 — 11
West Chester Henderson 1 4 2 1 — 8
West Chester East goals: Grello 3, DeLaney 3, Roth, Ja. Greiner 3, Grey.
West Chester Henderson goals: Wierman 2, Benson 2, Hamm, Micco, DePasquale, Carnuccio.
Goalie saves: Mcanally (WCE) 8; McKie (WCH) 7.
