Shaker tops Shen for Class A lax title

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. » The last time the Shaker High School boys varsity squad lifted up a Section II plaque was 17 years ago, a prep school generation away from being crowned the kings of Capital District lacrosse.

On Wednesday night, the drought ended with a lightningfast offense and a stalwart defense that held Shenendehowa to a single goal in the second half to earn a 9-5 win and, finally, a championship plaque.

“I took over 11 years ago, it’s been quite a long haul, it really has,” Shaker head coach Shawn Hennessey said. “We’ve had a lot of hard work by our youth, a lot of hard work by our community members, our moms, our dads,

our families and most of all we had a lot of hard work by our players.

“They believed and it’s been climbing for 10 years until we got to this point. The testament is really to our Shaker community in general.”

It was a contrast of styles, Shenendehowa dedicated to a deliberate, motion offense, moving the ball around Shaker’s zone, looking to create the one shot that could break through past goalie Brendan Morrison. The Plainsmen’s opening play took more than five minutes off the clock before their first shot.

Shaker relied on its quick transition game, moving the ball up the field and quickly firing on Shenendehowa goalie Anthony Tebbano time and time again.

A two-goal lead by the Plainsmen was countered by the Blue Bison in the first quarter. Shenendehowa held a slight 5-4 advantage in the first half before Shaker created more advantageous shots as the second half progressed.

“I think they just pressed a little more, I think they pushed tempo a little bit on us,” Shenendehowa

coach Jason Gifford said. “We threw a couple of defensive looks at them, they adjusted to it, and it’s what good teams do.”

Shaker junior midfielder Jack Cheney scored twice in the closing minutes of the third quarter and opened up the fourth with his hat trick goal, giving the Bison a two-goal margin, 6-4. That was all the advantage they needed.

“Give 100 percent credit to (Anthony) Tebbano, he’s an unbelievable goalie, he played an unbelievable game and had a great season,” Cheney said. “It really turned around for the first goal, Hunter Rainville was my defenseman all night and he was playing great defense, I got lucky, turned him and looked up. Tebanno looked like he was going low, I slid one past him and I started to feel it from there and put the ball in the back of the net.”

As Shaker found its shooting touch, the defense allowed just a single shot on their own goalkeeper in the second half.

“We’ve got a great defensive coach in John Holland who really works with our guys and starts making sure that they are and coaches every minute of the game and you know what the boys believe in it,” Hennessey said. “They’re long, they’re athletic and some

of them are young. It’s an amazing thing to have right now.”

To go 17 years without a Section II title is a lifetime in high school sports. Few remember the joy of almost two decades ago, but this year’s squad had a mission.

“I think this year we took that step that we needed to in order to be like everyone needed to look at us rather than us saying ‘Alright, we’re here again,’” Hennessey said. “We’ve been here four times in my tenure and each year I’m like ‘How am I going to get three goals, how am I going to get four goals, how am I going to get stops?’ This year we said ‘You know what, how are they going to get goals on us?’

“We’re going to score and do those things, so the feeling was different this year and that was because of our kids, those senior leaders we have — Michael Stiso, your Nick Pepe, your Brendan Morrison, you Chris Calichia, those seniors just put it on their backs and they said, they lift, they run and they’re hungry and they did a tremendous job.”

Shaker advanced to the final after besting Bethlehem in three overtimes in the semifinal. It was Tebbano who put the Plainsmen in another Section II final with a last-second save versus Guilderland.

As the Bison move on, the Plainsmen will be asked to recover and reflect.

“The first thing we said in the huddle was thank you to our seniors,” Gifford said. “They’ve put in hours for this program; they’ve meant so much to this program.

“We say thank you to them and leave them alone a little bit, let them come down a little bit if you want to say. We’ll have our exit interviews with our younger guys, our returning guys and it’ll be a few weeks and we’ll get back at it.”

Shaker will face Section I powerhouse Lakeland-Panas 10 a.m. Saturday morning at Mohonasen High School.

“We’re going to rely on our boys. We’re playing with house money now,” Hennessey said. “The one that we needed was this one, now it’s house money from here on out.

“Now it’s how hard can these guys go and how far do they want to go. I think they’ve got it in them, they’re going to go as long as they can.”