Spring-Ford, Owen J. Roberts win semifinals, advance to PAC boys’ lacrosse title game

GRATERFORD >> The most chaotic regular season in recent PAC boys’ lacrosse history is headed for a familiar postseason finish.

Top-seeded Spring-Ford came from behind for a thrilling 9-8 overtime win over upstart No. 4 Upper Merion in the opener, while No.2 Owen J. Roberts broke open a halftime tie with a 9-2 second-half advantage to top No. 3 Perkiomen Valley, 16-9 and advance to Thursday night’s title game right back at PV.

Hayden Wedemeyer’s third goal of the game less than a minute into overtime sealed a frenetic Spring-Ford comeback in the opening game of the doubleheader.

Trailing 8-6 with 45 seconds to go, the Rams got a goal from senior Preston Page to cut the deficit in half, then forced a turnover to set up Ian Evans’ tying effort with only 12 seconds to play in regulation.

Overtime saw each team gain possession and call timeout, but Spring-Ford wouldn’t miss twice. Wedemeyer got loose off a restart and fired a short bouncer past Upper Merion’s outstanding Nate Uhl (16 saves) for the game-winner.

“Too many turnovers, and generally not playing as a team,” said senior midfielder Ian Evans of the Rams’ sluggish start. Myself, I was forcing things. “We weren’t playing our game.”

Evans had two goals in the final 1:15 of regulation, the Rams scoring three goals in all to send the game to sudden death and set the stage for Wedemeyer’s heroics.

“A sense of urgency,” explained Wedemeyer. “We had to lock in. As seniors, this was not where we wanted our PAC careers to end. We did what it took to keep going.”

In the nightcap, Nolan Brown had a career-high five goals and Gabe DellaPenna equaled that output as Owen J. Roberts scored 12 of the game’s final 14 goals, pulling away from the No. 3 seed and hosts from PV.

Perkiomen Valley had a run of four straight goals to take a 7-4 lead before Brown’s second tally of the evening ended the run and set OJR on a game-turning swing of their own. Around either end of halftime, the Wildcats scored five times in four minutes to turn the game around permanently.

“We talked right before the half about trusting one another,” said DellaPenna. “They had their run, but we wouldn’t let ourselves be affected. We kept playing our game and we were able to show what kind of team we are.”

“It’s a great feeling,” added Brown. “To be out here with the guys in the biggest games of the year, just doing our thing.”

The win was especially sweet for Kevin Mo, the second year OJR coach who picked up his first win against his alma mater, Perkiomen Valley.

“It’s always special, being back here at Perkiomen Valley,” said Mo, “and obviously I’ve been waiting for this (win) for the past two years.

“But what makes it truly special is being able to do it with this group here. I’m lucky, I get to see their passion every single day. I’m more focused on these guys – it’s one thing to stand on the sideline as coaches, but to see our guys make this happen is what I’ll remember.”

Was the second half Mo’s estimation of OJR reaching its potential?

“For sure,” he replied. “We got on a big run there, and if we can recreate that kind of play, we’ll be in good shape. They battled through adversity when we fell behind, which is what OJR lacrosse is all about. It’s what we mean when we talk about family.”

It could be argued Upper Merion (12-6, 7-3 PAC) deserved a better fate in the opener, controlling the middle stanzas of the contest and confounding the potent Spring-Ford offense for large stretches.

“They were outstanding,” said Spring-Ford coach Kevin Donnelly. “Their goalie (Uhl) was on, he held the post and gave us nothing easy. Hats off to them.”

Justin Besz led Upper Merion with a hat trick and an assist and held the Rams to a single goal in the first 16 minutes of the second half.

But the Vikings lost defender Jeremy Donovan early in the fourth quarter, and the Rams’ Sean Hassis (15/20 on faceoffs) was able to gain Spring-Ford enough possessions to storm back into a contest that Upper Merion led from the last minute of the first quarter until seconds remained in regulation.

Upper Merion is safely into the District 1-AA field, likely heading on the road when the tournament starts next Wednesday. Tuesday night marked UM’s inaugural appearance in the PAC’s traditional season-ending, four-team playoff, emblematic of the strides coach Brady McCormick’s program has made in recent years.

“Just now in the locker room, we talked about how this is difficult, because we lost a game that we were winning for 45 minutes,” said McCormick. “I felt this was the most complete game we played all year and give credit to Spring-Ford for their resilience.

McCormick singled out goalie Uhl, as well as midfielders Besz and Aiden McDonnell as outstanding performers.

“The way they played, that’s the definition of being a two-way middie,” he said.

“It’s a hard feeling to explain. I’m so disappointed we lost, but at the same time so proud of these guys. This is our fourth straight year going to Districts – we’d never gone in consecutive years before as a program. But every time these guys step on the field, they expect to win. That’s a special thing to experience.”

“We’re proud of how we played, even if we didn’t come out on top,” added junior goalie Uhl. “There are always mistakes you can correct, but there’s also a lot here we can build on for the future.”

Meanwhile, PV remains in a strong position to qualify for District 1-3A play, which begins next Tuesday. In fact, the standings at the start of play Tuesday project PV matching up with OJR yet again in the first round, but results between now and Friday will determine the final bracket.

For coach Bryan Churchey and his staff, the emphasis will be figuring out what got away from his Vikings after halftime Tuesday. As well as their opponents from OJR played and executed, PV wasn’t the same team after the break.

“I didn’t see confidence.” said Churchey, “and I don’t know why. We were back on our heels, we were outhustled. That was the whole third quarter.

“We need to let this moment refine us, not define us. It hurts, because at the end of the day we were in position to pull away in this game and couldn’t do it.”

Thursday’s title game between Spring-Ford and OJR will be the renewal of a rivalry that was an annual tradition for settling the PAC championship in the league’s early days. The most recent matchup for the title was won by Spring-Ford in 2022.

Back on April 9, Owen J. scored a potentially program-defining 12-11 victory over Spring-Ford. Will the Wildcats duplicate the feat exactly one month later, or will the Rams even the score from the regular-season loss, as they did in last year’s title game against Perkiomen Valley?

“It’s a revenge game,” said Spring-Ford’s Ian Evans, “and there’s plenty for us to work on. But we have to come out a whole lot sharper from the beginning.”

“As big of a game as it’ll be,” added OJR’s DellaPenna, “from an approach standpoint, we can’t treat it any differently than other games.”