Peters Township repeats as 3A champs

Given Peters Township’s lacrosse championship history, North Allegheny scoring a tying goal with a little more than eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter didn’t give Indians coach Mike Kaplan reason to panic.

His instincts were right, as Peters Township responded with two goals in the final minutes to win, 9-7, and repeat as WPIAL Class 3A lacrosse champion Friday at Robert Morris’ Joe Walton Stadium.

“I wasn’t concerned,” Kaplan said. “As much as we don’t want to talk about last year, last year our guys fought through those onegoal games, those close games. We brought back 14 of them from last year, they had that experience, and obviously the results speak for themselves and they knew what needed done and they did it.”

In the 2017 championship, Peters Township defeated Mt. Lebanon in double overtime. That experience came in handy this time around, senior Colton Abate said.

“We’ve been there before,” Abate, who scored three goals, said. “Last year, stress levels were through the roof, so I knew what to expect, so it wasn’t too bad.”

North Allegheny’s Matt Osten, who led all scorers with four goals, evened the score at 7-7 with a little more than eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Peters Township rallied with two quick goals from Aidan Stopperich and Daniel Bacchiochi.

The win was special for Kaplan, who said this year’s senior players were freshmen his first full year as coach.

“This has been the most fun I’ve had coaching lacrosse … ,” Kaplan said. “Watching them grow up and then win two WPIAL championships is pretty awesome.”

With the score, 2-2, in the second quarter, Abate scored his second goal, with Benjamin Delaney adding another about a minute later to put the Indians up, 4-2. A long goal by Nicholas Phelps gave the Indians a three-goal lead with 4:40 to play before halftime, but back-to-back goals by Osten kept North Allegheny in it.

Abate scored another goal with 50 seconds to play to give Peters Township a 6-4 lead at the half.

North Allegheny stayed in striking distance, with Kyler Byerly shaking off defenders for a goal with under five minutes to play in the third quarter. Just as Peters Township’s prolific offense pulled away, with a goal by Bacchiochi making it 7-5, another goal by Byerly narrowed the deficit to one.

Class 2A

Mars jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter of the 2A boys lacrosse championship and never looked back.

The Planets, leading by 12 at halftime, got a running clock in the second half on their way to a 17-4 win, their third WPIAL title in a row. Hampton scored twice in the third quarter, once by Ross Andersson and once by Ryan Stevens, but the Talbots couldn’t bring the deficit to within 12 goals to stop the running clock.

Cade Hetzler led the Planets with five goals, with Anthony Grieco scoring three goals and Brendan Moyer and Andrew Moyer getting two goals each.

The first round of the PIAA Class 2A and 3A playoffs begin Tuesday.