Peters Township wins in double OT
Tops Mt. Lebanon for Class 3A title; Mars claims 2A
For Peters Township head coach Michael Kaplan, this game was nothing new.
Sure, it was a doubleovertime championship that eventually went in favor of Kaplan’s team, but he said, historically, this is how most matchups have been between the two teams.
“Please go out there and finish the game,” Kaplan told his team after the first overtime. “I’m getting old. My heart can’t handle this.”
Kaplan is only 28 years old, but anyone could feel the intensity and emotion at Robert Morris’ Joe Walton Stadium.
But with 2:41 remaining, Daniel Bacchiochi calmed his coach’s nerves, scoring the winner to take the Class 3A championship, 1211.
With under a minute left in regulation, Will Delaney tied the score at 11-11, and Mt. Lebanon’s Tucker Welch stood tall in net at the buzzer, forcing overtime and eventually double overtime.
Peters Township opened the first quarter with a 5-0 run, including one from freshman Aiden McCall.
“He’s a freshman,” the crowd chanted, before Mt. Lebanon’s Connor Brumfield finally got the Blue Devils on the board to end the frame.
But the tables turned in the second quarter.
Mt. Lebanon’s Tim McMullen and John Sramac each scored to open the frame, with Peters Township’s Clayton Scott before the next two came from Mt. Lebanon to end the half, 6-5, in favor of the red and white.
The third quarter was a back-and-forth battle, ending in a 10-10 stalemate.
To start the fourth, Mt. Lebanon’s John Sramac scored his fourth goal of the match on an assist from Patrick Moeller — his fourth of the night as well — to leave goalie Matt Michalowski on the turf in disbelief.
Delaney tied it at 11-11 with just under a minute remaining, forcing sudden-death overtime, in which neither team scored in the four minutes allotted.
“That was probably one of the best games of lacrosse I’ve ever seen,” Kaplan said.
Class 2A
Mars head coach Bob Marcoux got goose bumps when he was reminded of his team’s accomplishment just minutes after the game ended — even more so than when he got an ice-cold bucket of water in a Gatorade bucket dumped on him, he said, after leading his team to a dominant 19-6 victory against Quaker Valley Friday night in Class 2A.
The first half was a onesided affair.
Mars opened the scoring with goals from Ben Lewis and Joe Horvat. Quaker Valley’s Connor Mangan got his team on the board with what was its only goal of the half.
Mars went on a 5-0 run to end the first frame, in which Anthony Greico scored a hat trick.
Hayden Vasbinder of Mars scored on a feed from Mike Doyle to open the second quarter. Cade Hetzler got his second of three in the game on a rebound with just under three minutes left.
Greico scored an unassisted goal to mark his fourth of the game. Luke Miller got on the board next with a goal assisted by Dan O’Connell, leaving Mars to enter halftime leading, 11-1.
Quaker Valley gained momentum in the third, with three goals, from Devin Sye, Geoffrey Magin and Mangan, who scored his second of the day.
Quaker Valley’s Jake Giotto opened the final frame with an unassisted goal, but Mars finished the stretch with a 4-1 run.
Marcoux praised his team’s balanced attack, saying it’s difficult for other teams to key in on a specific player, although one player stood out among the rest in Greico. The junior attackman, scored five goals on the night.