Spring-Ford shares the wealth, bests Boyertown in PAC semifinal
GRATERFORD >> It sounds strange, but unselfishness can lead to some impressive individual accomplishments.
And for Spring-Ford’s lacrosse team, it’s also the key to team success.
The Rams piled up the goals in Tuesday’s night’s 16-10 PAC semifinal win over Boyertown, but perhaps most impressive was Spring-Ford registering assists on thirteen of those 16 tallies.
“Ball movement, people moving without the ball – the more the offense moves, the harder it is for the defense to communicate,” said
Rams midfielder Will Fish.
“The more guys we can get involved, the easier it becomes,” added attackman Justin Wixted.
Wixted, in particular, was getting everyone involved for the No. 2-seeded Rams. The High Pointbound senior finished with a season-high nine points, highlighted by a half-dozen assists.
Three of those helpers came on tallies by Fish, who led Spring-Ford with four goals on the night.
“We’ve played a lot of strong teams, and tonight we played to our abilities,” added Wixted. “That’s just practice and repetition.”
The Rams started out hot, getting goals from different scorers in building a 4-0 lead in the opening quarter. But where they began to separate was in turning defense to offense, while preventing the Bears from doing likewise.
Spring-Ford created six turnovers on failed Boyertown clears in the opening half, frustrating the Bears’ attempts to get back into the contest after falling behind early. The relentless SpringFord ride proved difficult to solve all night.
“The biggest thing for us will be watching the film,” said Boyertown coach Grady Wise. “When we didn’t allow them into their (ride), we cleared the ball OK.
“We need to get better at not panicking when the pressure comes.”
On the topic of pressure, Fish, Wixted, and the rest of the Spring-Ford offense applied plenty of it throughout the night, consistently passing up good shots for great looks in an offensive effort that could have been even more prolific if not for the work of Boyertown goalie Logan Oakes (11 saves).
A 6-0 Spring-Ford run from the three-minute mark of the second quarter to the middle of the third quarter turned a 6-3 contest into a one-sided affair before Boyertown was able to rally behind the offensive effort of Gage Parker (seven goals).
“I thought we were much better in the second half than the first,” said Wise. “We made our run late in the game when
Gage put the team on his back. We got something going late behind Wyatt Yerger and our faceoff crew.
“But that was too deep a hole to climb out of against a team that strong.”
The Rams got four goals from Fish, plus hat tricks from Wixted, Colin Song, and Ian Evans. Lance Terrizzi, Hayden Wedemeyer, and Brady Welsh also scored for Spring-Ford.
Goalie Charlie Power (13 saves) almost got in on the scoring, carrying a thirdquarter clear into the box and shooting just high on his own attempt.
Power backstopped an effort that held prolific Boyertown to only five goals in the game’s first three quarters.
“We did well to recognize our matchups, like getting the right defender on their guy (Aidan McFalls, the PAC’s leading goal scorer),” said SF defender Brandon Solomon.
Boyertown (14-4, 7-3 PAC) will start the District 1-3A tournament at home next week. The Bears earned teh No. 8 seed and will host a second-round game Thursday.