Cougars dominate Whippets, move closer to another Ches-Mont title
UWCHLAN >> If Joe Horvath wanted to nit-pick, his Downingtown East lacrosse squad did get off to a slow start during Thursday’s first-place Ches-Mont showdown with rival Downingtown West. But the Cougars’ head coach was hard pressed to come up with much else in the way of negatives after a dominant 10-2 triumph over the visiting Whippets.
“We played an all-around physical, yet smart, game. We limited penalties,” Horvath said.
“We were patient offensively, which is what we’ve been doing lately. And we were great in transition.”
And even though the attack was certainly potent enough, East’s defense is starting to look like a championship caliber unit. Going against standouts like Sam Barton and Mike Waite, West only managed a couple goals and were limited to less than 10 shots on goal.
“We are more cohesive as the season’s gone on,” said Barton, a senior defender. “And our goalie (sophomore Brody Quinn) is getting his confidence.
“Our defense had been picking up the offense, but I thought they played better today.”
Now 9-0 in the league (11-2 overall), the Cougars are now heavily favored to win the Ches-Mont regular season crown for the second straight season. East still has three league outings to go, including a tricky road trip to Kennett on May 4th. But the squad may be in position to actually drop a contest and still win the conference.
“This was definitely a big win for us. It gives us a platform to take off from,” Horvath said.
“Any sport, anywhere, it’s emotional to get a win against West,” Barton added. “It’s a big one for us to keep the momentum going into the playoffs.”
Playing without injured defensive contributors like Dean Hangey, Luke Benis and William Ely, the Whippets fall to 6-2 (9-3 overall), and have dropped three of their last four. Head coach Billy Davis declined to comment.
“A lot of injuries are hurting us, but we can’t use that as an excuse any longer,” said West senior standout Bret Bergey. “We just have to fix the mistakes. Our offense needs to be smarter and hold onto the ball longer because now the defense is struggling numbers-wise. We did not do that today.”
The game plan was to gain possession and work patiently for quality scoring chances, and the Cougars executed it to perfection in the final three quarters. Tied a 1-1 heading into the second period, East scored five goals in a row to take command.
“One of our goals was to make sure we had long possessions to kind of starve-out (West’s) offense and we were able to do that,” Horvath explained.
Cougars’ sophomore Ben Petrillo scored and then had the assist on a goal by teammate T.J. Shillingford to kick off the rally. Senior attacker Bryson Kolinsky then added two more solo scores on plays from behind the cage to make it 5-1 at the half.
A senior, Shillingford made it 6-1 before Bergey finally scored for the Whippets midway through the third. That was as close as West would get as junior Jake McMahon, Kolinsky and Petrillo each added goals the rest of the way for East.
“We just kept turning it over too much and (East) was patient and kept taking advantage of our mistakes,” Bergey said.
In the pivotal second quarter, West did not record a single shot on goal, and the Cougars went on to have a 17-9 edge in that statistic for the match. East did, however, lose another key player on the attack when junior Connor Sweeney went down early with an apparent shoulder injury, and did not return.
Earlier this season, the Cougars lost junior Tanner Marusa for the season to a torn Achilles. He was, at the time, the team’s leading scorer.
“Unfortunately, we seem to be losing guys every game,” Horvath said.
“It looks extensive. If we lose (Sweeney), it’s another starter.”
Kolinsky led the way with three goals and two assists. Petrillo (two assists) and Shillington each added two goals for East.
“(Petrillo) is doing a great job, and the guys who are stepping up for our injured players are doing a great job. We couldn’t ask for more,” Horvath said.
“As you get deeper into a season, you need numbers because it’s going to be a bunch of dogfights.”
The Cougars entered the day No. 8 in the District 1 3A Power Rankings, and will get a chance to move up even further with a home no-league clash against a quality Upper Dublin squad Saturday.
“Districts are in the back of our minds, but we don’t really talk about it,” Barton acknowledged. “We would like to repeat as Ches-Mont champs, but our focus is game-to-game and trying to get better.”
Downingtown East 10, Downingtown West 2
Downingtown West 1 0 1 0 — 2
Downingtown East 1 4 3 2 0 — 10
Downingtown West goals: Lundmark, Bergey.
Downingtown East goals: Kolinsky 3, Pertillo 2, Shillington 2, McMahon, Woodworth, Sweeney.
Goalie saves: Stang (DW) 7; Quinn (DE) 7.
