Avon Grove surges past Spring-Ford in early season barometer

LONDON GROVE >> As district powers from different leagues, the Avon Grove and Spring-Ford boys get together on the lacrosse field in the non-conference every season as an early barometer.

For long stretches on Tuesday, it looked like two of the premier programs in the region. But the host Red Devils from the Ches-Mont took command with six straight goals sandwiched around the halftime break, and went on to register a quality 13-5 victory over the Rams from the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

“We were coming off of a loss and looking to rebound in a certain way,” said Avon Grove head coach Brian Wallace. “We want to keep getting better and do things the right way.

“So this was a quality win. Spring-Ford has a great program.”

It was a decidedly more frustrating outing for Spring-Ford (1-1 overall) and head coach Kevin Donnelly. He was booted from the game with just over two minutes on the clock after drawing his second penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“We’ve played Avon Grove for a long time and they are consistently a high-level program,” said Chuck Baker, an assistant on Donnelly’s staff. “We saw more of that today. They came ready to play.

“Hats off to them. But we want to play our best lacrosse in May. We will look at this and learn from it.”

The Devils opened the season last weekend with a 9-7 loss to District 3 standout Hempfield, and are now 1-1 heading into their league opener against West Chester Rustin on Thursday.

“We needed to bounce back from our loss on Saturday, so this was huge,” said junior attacker Preston Boyd, who scored five times and dished out two assists.

“We came out with much more energy tonight and we capitalized on (Spring-Ford’s) errors,” added junior attacker Trent Lucovich.

Clinging to a 4-3 lead, the Devils opened a little breathing room by scoring a pair of goals in the final 102 seconds of the first half to take a three goal lead into the break. Moments after Donnelly was first whistled for arguing a call, junior Griffin Edwards notched a power play goal on a pass from senior teammate Michael Villa. And then Villa dished out an assist to Boyd for a goal with just two seconds on the clock.

Avon Grove then seized control by scoring the first four goals in the opening 7:22 of the second half. Boyd notched the first two, and then Lucovich the next two, with the final tally coming just after Devils’ keeper Alex Hammond made a key save at point-blank range.  

“A lot of times games are won late in the first half and early in the second,” Baker pointed out.

“Our big point of emphasis was to win the third quarter,” Wallace added.

The Rams made one last bid for a comeback and cut the deficit to 10-5 late in the third on goals by Connor Gunzelmann and Justin Wixted, but Lucovich slammed the door with a momentum-shifting goal with 9:42 to go. He finished with four goals.

“Our ball movement tonight was beautiful,” said Lucovich, a transfer from Salesianum (Del.).

In all, Avon Grove outshot Spring-Ford 26-14. Villa finished with two goals and two assists. Christian Marchini paced the Rams with two goals and an assist.

“(Avon Grove) had good ball control on offense, and they got after it on ground balls,” Baker said.

“This gives us a bunch of confidence moving forward,” Boyd added. “But we can’t let down – we have to keep pushing forward.”

Avon Grove 13, Spring-Ford 5

Spring-Ford                          2 1 2 0 — 5

Avon Grove                          3 3 4 3 — 13 

Spring-Ford goals: Wixted, Gunzelmann, Marchini 2, Fish.

Avon Grove goals: Villa 2, Anthony, Lucovich 4, Boyd 5, Edwards.

Goalie saves: Venella (SF) 11; Hammond (AG) 9.