Reigning champ Perkiomen Valley fends off upstart Owen J. Roberts, 9-6

GRATERFORD >> The Perkiomen Valley boys’ lacrosse program spent years as the hunters, fighting and clawing their way to the top of the Pioneer Athletic Conference. In 2021, it paid off in the program’s first league title.

But Tuesday night at Thomas J. Keenan Stadium, the Vikings drew upon that experience to stave off their first major challenge as “the hunted.”
The defending champions withstood a challenge from upstart Owen J. Roberts, prevailing 9-6 to move to 7-1 on the season and remain undefeated (3-0) in PAC play.

The Wildcats came into the game boasting the area’s most prolific offense, averaging 14 goals per contest in the first half of the season. OJR appeared on their way to another high-flying performance, bagging a pair of tallies early for a 2-0 lead and taking a 3-2 advantage into the second quarter.

But it was there that the Vikings turned the game upside-down, cashing in four goals on an extended man-up opportunity. Once PV had the lead, their defense turned particularly stingy, holding OJR to just one tally over the next 29 minutes.

The key, according to defensive stalwarts Ryan Boozer and long-stick midfielder Gino Nave, was a man-to-man look that caught OJR off-guard.
“The game plan was to come out in man, and that was big,” confirmed Nave. “We had our slides down pat, our recoveries were huge for us tonight. Our communication was spot on.”

“Going into the game, we figured they’d expect the zone,” added Boozer. “And a bunch of guys, like James Mazzoni for example, stepped up with big performances. Our midfielders helped us to gain and maintain possession. We avoided mistakes as well.”

Shea Fusco with 5 seconds t half gives Perkiomen Valley a 7-4 lead at the break on Owen J Roberts, PAC boys lacrosse pic.twitter.com/lVa9OgRD7Q

— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) April 19, 2022

The Wildcats weren’t as fortunate, as a two-minute slashing penalty taken with eight minutes to play in the second quarter was a major factor in their 3-2 advantage quickly becoming a 6-3 deficit. Playing without faceoff mainstay Damian Swech, the Wildcats struggled to keep Perkiomen Valley from attacking the cage repeatedly throughout the man advantage.

“And that can’t happen,” admitted OJR coach Mikey Zadroga. “This happened in our first loss of the season, and tonight it happened against the best man-up unit I’ve seen in high school lacrosse so far.”

Shea Fusco led the Vikings’ offense with three goals, while Matt Farrington added two goals and two assists.

“That’s good to hear,” said Fusco when told of Zadroga’s compliment. “We weren’t a strong EMO unit last year, so it feels great to put in a few goals and turn the game around.”

On the decisive advantage, it was Harrison Schlachta who tied the game off a feed from Farrington, followed by a scoop-and-score goal by Colin Delo on the ensuing faceoff only seven seconds later, giving PV its first lead at 7:27 of the second quarter.

Farrington tallied unassisted at 6:41, and Matt Horgan buried a pass from Dane Hagen with just one second left on the advantage to make it a 6-3 lead.

After that, the PV defense took over with a combination of forced turnovers and possession maintained through the midfield to salt the game away in the second half. In all, the man-up unit scored five times, the last goal coming to close out Fusco’s hat trick with four minutes remaining to give the Vikings their biggest lead at 9-4.

OJR was led by two goals from Gabe DellaPenna and an all-around effort from Andy Giandonato, who played just about every position on the field before adding a late tally.

“Heart and soul of our team,” said Zadroga of Giandonato. “Offense, defense, at the wing – he makes whatever part of the field he’s on that much better. He’s our X factor, and I’m surprised he’s not more heavily recruited.”

For the Vikings, who came into play ranked No. 3 in the District One Class 3A power rankings, it’s a major regular-season step towards defending their hard-earned championship, with archrivals Spring-Ford looming at the end of a challenging league slate.

But first thing’s first, as the Vikings will travel to Methacton Thursday night.

“The key for us is looking at the next opponent,” said Nave. “One slip and it derails our season, moves us down in the rankings. For us, this season, teams are looking to take us down. So we need to stay level-headed.”

Notes >> Tuesday night marked the Go4theGoal Foundation game at Perkiomen Valley. Go4theGoal is a non-profit charitable organization providing supportive services to children with cancer and their families.

The Perkiomen Valley lacrosse program aims to raise $2,000 for the Foundation during the 2022 season.

“What we liked about this foundation is 100 percent of the donations stay local,” said PV coach Bryan Churchey. “It helps families afford medical bills, get toys for the kids. We felt we needed to adopt something that allowed us to give back in our community.”