Severna Park captures 6th straight state title, 11th overall
Dynasty continues as No. 4 seed Falcons hold off Mt. Hebron in Class 3A final
Joaquin Villagomez accepted the state championship trophy from Severna Park principal Patrick Bathras and held it high above his head to show his teammates, who erupted in joyous celebration as they mobbed the senior captain.
The Severna Park boys lacrosse dynasty continued its run of dominance.
Junior midfielder Ryan LaRocque had a hat track to lead a balanced offense, while goalie Ashby Shepherd anchored a suffocating defense as fourth-seeded Severna Park defeated second-seeded Mt. Hebron, 9-6, on Wednesday night in the Class 3A state final at Loyola Maryland’s Ridley Athletic Complex.
“It’s a state championship game and they’re always a battle no matter who you play. You always want to end the season this way and only one team gets to do that,” Severna Park coach Dave Earl said.
“I’m really proud of these guys because they worked their tails off all season. They
really started to come together as a team two or three weeks ago. We started to see it click in the locker room and practice.”
Senior midfielder Parker Sealey scored two goals and assisted two others for the Falcons, who took a commanding 7-1 lead early in the fourth quarter. Senior attackman Nolan Zborai, junior midfielder Kevin Bredeck and Villagomez all totaled a goal and an assist.
Junior faceoff specialist Camden Webb dominated the draws, winning 14 of 19 to help Severna Park (16-4) control possession. It was the sixth straight state title and 11th overall for the Falcons, who outshot the Vikings, 32-15.
This state championship was different for the Falcons because it came at the Class 3A level. Villagomez, the team’s leading scorer, said this one was special because Severna Park graduated several players from last season.
“I think this year we were definitely doubted because we lost a lot of players from last season,” Villagomez said. “We came together and created a new team and were able to continue that tradition.
“You now don’t want to be the senior class that didn’t win the championship.”
Junior attackman Rich Tangires totaled two goals and an assist to lead Mt. Hebron (17-2), which was seeking its first state title since 2006. Nick Machiran scored two goals, while fellow senior midfielder Gavin Fleck added a goal and assist for the Vikings, whose lone regular-season loss came to another Anne Arundel County school, Broadneck.
“Severna Park outplayed us for 40 minutes. They dominated faceoffs and we had some careless turnovers, which led to time of possession being heavily in their favor,” Mt. Hebron coach Mike McCarthy said. “Our effort was there, but our execution was not for three quarters and Severna Park made us pay.”
Mt. Hebron struggled to clear the ball, which was a big factor in its lack of possession time. McCarthy was surprised by that since the Vikings had almost a 90% clearing rate coming in.
“Most of our turnovers were unforced. We sailed the ball [on passes] and dropped the ball at times. We haven’t done that all season,” McCarthy said.
Standout senior goalie Everett Armstead kept the contest close by registering 11 saves, several of the spectacular variety.
Severna Park played lockdown defense with junior Evan Stroble limiting Mt. Hebron leading scorer Gianni Karam to one goal. Karam came into the contest with 43 goals on the season. The Vikings got off just five shots in the first half.
The Falcons rotated faceoff specialists throughout the season, but the coaching staff decided to go primarily with Webb in the playoffs. He rewarded that faith in a big way on Wednesday night.
“I can’t say enough about Cam. He was just tremendous tonight,” Earl said.
LaRocque won a tough ground ball then charged straight to the cage before firing a hard overhand shot into the top corner to give Severna Park a 6-1 lead through three quarters. Bredeck scored his second goal of the game off a failed clear just over a minute into the fourth frame and the Falcons had their largest lead at six.
“I thought we were clearing the ball really well, I thought we were riding really well and doing a good job of getting the ball back,” Earl said. “I thought in the first half we were getting good looks and not finishing. We started to run some on-ball pick plays that worked and the shots started to fall in the second half.”