Cardinals win second straight ‘A’ crown
Calvert Hall dominates ball, holds on for 16th triumph
Shortly after Calvert Hall’s 8-6 victory over Boys’ Latin was sealed Friday night, securing its second straight Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference lacrosse title, the No. 2 Cardinals passed around the championship plaque and shared hugs that lasted a little longer.
It was an emotional ending to a trying season for a team that showed how hard it was playing for more than the program’s fourth championship.
Shortly after the win, coming before an announced crowd of 2,771 at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium, Calvert Hall coach Bryan Kelly quickly mentioned longtime assistant coach Dave Huntley, who passed away in December. And then on Wednesday morning, before the Cardinals’ semifinal win over Loyola Blakefield, senior captain Peter Ilardo’s
father, Harry Ilardo, passed away after a lengthy illness.
It was fitting that Peter Ilardo scored an extra man goal with 9:30 to play in the second quarter that gave the Cardinals the lead for good at 3-2.
He had plenty of teammates to help protect the advantage as the Cardinals became the first MIAA A team to win back-to-back championships since Loyola Blakefield did it in 2007 and 2008.
Sophomore attackman Daniel Kelly (two goals, one assist), junior midfielders Jack Sawyer (two goals, one assist) and Grant Mitchell (three goals) led the attack with goalie Liam Darragh (six saves) making two big stops in the fourth quarter to help hold off the Lakers.
Calvert Hall closed out its season with a 16-3 record, capturing the program’s fourth MIAA A crown.
“It’s interesting, I usually write keys to the game and the last two games I just wrote a letter to the kids and talked about the journey. It’s been a journey, it’s been hard,” said Calvert Hall 23rd-year coach Bryan Kelly, who noted this was his first championship win without Huntley.
Boys’ Latin, which got two goals and two assists from sophomore Brendan Grimes, finished with a 14-5 mark.
The Cardinals had a 40-22 advantage in shots, but Brandau finished with 10 saves to help keep the Lakers close.
“They got up on us early and we did a good job of battling back in the second quarter, but it was a couple goals here and a couple goals there,” Boys’ Latin coach Brian Farrell said. “I thought our guys battled the whole time and it was a hell of a effort by [Calvert Hall] — they’re a really good team.”
Leading 5-4 at halftime, the Cardinals scored the first three goals in the second half with Sawyer getting the lone goal in the third quarter and the Cardinals pulling away in the fourth with goals by Kelly and Mitchell.
The Lakers made a final push in the final 2 minutes, getting goals by Basil Aburn and Ben Smith to create late-game suspense.
“We gave it all we had,” Sawyer said. “Coming into this game, we had a hard week with Peter’s father and we overcome that and knew he was with us — same with Coach Hunt — we won this for them and played our heart out.”
Mitchell gave the Cardinals their biggest lead at 8-4 with 2:37 to play.
“I think the mentality was just to play hard and really execute and take advantage of what we had. We got our looks and buried them,” Mitchell said. “It’s surreal, unbelievable.”
B CONFERENCE FINAL: Jax Francisco drew from his training to become a goalie just when Gerstell needed it the most.
The Falcons freshman allowed four goals from Saints Peter & Paul in the first quarter of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association’s B Conference championship game, and after 12 minutes of play Gerstell’s second consecutive appearance in the final wasn’t going well.
That’s when Francisco said he took a few moments to clear his mind.
“I just thought through my short-term memory,” Francisco said. “Just said that I want to win this game for my school. So I just did everything I could to forget about the first quarter.”
Three quarters later, the first frame was long forgotten. Francisco made some adjustments, and got help from his defense, to lift Gerstell past Saints Peter & Paul, 9-5, at Towson University to capture the school’s first MIAA title.