Conestoga closes strong, opens league play with win over Marple Newtown
TREDYFFRIN >> The Conestoga boys opened its Central League schedule with a 16-6 win over visiting Marple Newtown. And afterwards, ’Stoga head coach Brody Bush made it clear what he believes is the team’s most challenging foe.
“I tell the guys every day before practice that our number one opponent is COVID,” he said.
The Pioneers were without four players due to the coronavirus protocols on Thursday, including senior tri-captain Joey Allen. And Conestoga just ended a 10-day hiatus from playing and practicing for the same reason.
“We were shut down for a while,” Bush said. “And with high school kids, with not a lot of experience due to last season being cancelled, we have a lot to learn and improve on.
“So it’s next man up in our program. We didn’t want cancel. I look at it as if four guys were injured.”
Conestoga (2-1 overall) was supposed to play its league opener on Tuesday against Radnor, but that match had to be rescheduled for early May. The recent inactivity was noticeable, and ’Stoga also had some trouble defending Marple Newtown’s CJ Lane in the early going.
“CJ just proved out there today that he’s stepped up as a leader,” said Marple Newtown head coach Kevin Merchant. “He had a good game today.”
The senior attacker scored three times in a five-minute stretch of second period to erase an early 3-0 deficit and pull the Tigers (0-2, 1-2 overall) within striking distance at 5-3.
“At that point, there was a sense of urgency,” acknowledged Pioneers’ midfielder Graham Blatchford. “We should be up a lot more. But once we got that first goal, it started us on a roll.”
It came from Blatchford himself, off a pass from Patrick Reilly, with 2:30 to go in the half. Reilly then scored in the final minute to make it 7-3. Conestoga then opened the second half with five more goals in a row to take command.
“You could tell we were off for a while, but once we got out there we worked our way through the mistakes and started to come together,” said Blatchford, who finished with two goals.
Third quarter goals by Wylder Adkison, Peter Detwiler, Aiden Kelly and Drew Merschel upped the lead to 11-3, and then Blatchford capped the rally with his second goal. In all, ’Stoga took advantage of a big edge in the faceoff circle, as junior Ian Kim won 19 of 23 draws (.826 percent).
“(Conestoga) has a real good face off guy, and they played a lot of make-it, take-it today. We tried mixing things up against him, but he had a good day,” Merchant said.
“Ian Kim has done a fantastic job for us,” Bush added. “I told him before the game that I wanted him to win 80 percent. He’s been part of our program for three years and he’s come a long well.”
Lane notched his fourth goal to end the streak. Teammates Charlie Box and Jack Welsh also scored in the final five minutes for Marple Newtown, but it was too late.
“We are still coming together and in a few games we will be a different team that we are right now,” Merchant predicted. “We are working through those early season hurdles to get better as a team.”
Reilly finished with three goals and an assist before exiting in the third period with a slightly sprained ankle. Brothers Chase and Aidan Kelly scored three and two goals, respectively, and long-stick midfielder Tom Ciccarone chipped in a goal and an assist.
“The season is a marathon and we are only in the first third of the run,” Bush said. “We will get steadier, and at the end, which is the playoffs, we have to play our best lacrosse. As long as we are improving, I’m OK with that. But we made some youthful mistakes. We are young, especially on defense.
“I thought we played stronger in the second half, moved the ball better and just had better team play. It’s not about ability – we have ability – it’s about communicating with each other.”
The Tigers are in the midst of a brutal stretch, having lost to Springfield (Delco) and Conestoga in back-to-back meetings.
“We saw improvement from our game on Tuesday against Springfield,” Merchant said. “This is a gauntlet, but it’s good – it should sharpen us.”
The Pioneers will step back out of league play on Saturday to host powerful Malvern Prep.
“We are going to need to be able to bounce-back from adversity like we did today when we play Malvern,” Reilly said.
“Overall, we need to stay safe with COVID. We need to play these games so we can win the Central League and go to districts and states.”
Conestoga 16, Marple Newtown 6
Marple Newtown 0 3 0 3 — 6
Conestoga 3 4 4 5 — 16
Marple Newtown goals: Lane 3, Box, Welsh.
Conestoga goals: C. Kelly 3, Brosso, Austin, Blatchford 2, Merschel, A. Kelly 2, Detwiler, Adkison, Reilly 3, Ciccarone.
Goalie saves: Welsh (MN) 14; Jameison (C) 7; Nissenbaum (C) 0.
