Vikings conquer Mars
Allentown Central Catholic rolls to historic state championship with 14-5 win over Mars
Allentown Central Catholic secured Pennsylvania’s Class 2A lacrosse crown with a dominant 14-5 win over District 7 champion Mars on Saturday at West Chester East’s Harold I. Zimmerman Stadium. The Vikings used an 8-0 run that spanned the first and second periods to pull away from an unbeaten Mars team. Central Catholic, which ends its three-championship season with a 23-1 overall record, outscored its four PIAA victims by a combined 65-18.
Central Catholic stars of teams past and present gathered around the PIAA state championship trophy on a sun-splashed Saturday in West Chester.
They took pictures together. They hugged each other. They celebrated.
Coach Dan Dolphin’s Vikings accomplished something this season that no other Central Catholic team had ever accomplished.
They did what no other District 11 team ever did.
Allentown Central Catholic secured the Pennsylvania’s Class 2A lacrosse crown with a dominant 14-5 win over District 7 champion Mars at West Chester East’s Harold I. Zimmerman Stadium.
“We’ve knocked on the door a lot of times,” Dolphin said. “Today we knocked the door in.”
Dolphin’s Vikings overmatched yet another state playoff opponent, using an 8-0 run that spanned the first and second periods to pull away from an unbeaten Mars team. Central Catholic, which ends its three-championship season with a 23-1 overall record, outscored its four PIAA victims by a combined 65-18.
“It means the world to me,” said senior captain Jack McGorry, who scored three goals.
“It’s something I’ve been dreaming about ever since I started to play lacrosse. I think we worked so hard for this goal and now we’ve accomplished it. This feels amazing.”
“We’re the first team in Lehigh Valley history to make it this far, let alone win the state championship,” said another senior captain, Tyler Schifko. “We have our names written in history forever. There’s no better feeling, especially in our senior year, to end it with a win.”
McGorry and juniors Chuck Kuczynski and Ben Scandone
scored three goals apiece to propel the Vikings, who trailed Mars 1-0 midway through the first quarter.
Central Catholic opened a 2-1 lead after one then caught fire in the second period, scoring six goals in a five-minute stretch.
McGorry got it going when he worked hard to create some space and fire a low shot past Mars senior goalie Jacob Gareis. Then the goals came fast and furious.
Kuczynski’s second long-pole goal came when he scooped up a ground ball, sprinted into the offensive zone and fired a high shot into the netting. McGorry’s second tally came 33 seconds later as he was falling to the turf. And Schifko’s first of two for the game capped that six-goal spurt.
It was a momentum-changing and championship-clinching five minutes of action.
“A lot of it was transition,” said Dolphin, whose win was the 201st and biggest of his 14-year coaching career.
“I mean we were just running up and down the field, and our team has great overall speed. When we get into that man-up situation that’s tough for any team to stop. We were able to capitalize on those. The kids were shooting lightsout, too. In that second quarter, everything was going into the net.”
Kuczynski, who Dolphin called the best defensive player he’s ever coached, provided rare key contributions on offense. Kuczynski entered with four goals this season.
His scoring complemented the usual offensive standouts — McGorry, Schifko, Scandone and Co.
“I haven’t scored that many since eighth-grade youth lacrosse. It’s an amazing feeling,” Kuczynski said.
Defensively, Central Catholic put the clamps on a Fightin’ Planets offense that entered averaging 18 goals per game. They controlled junior Wes Scurci, who this week was named the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s player of the year. Scurci scored both of his goals in the second half. He entered with 86.
Kuczynski and defensive teammates Mason Maxsim, Diego Colon and Aiden Carroll played well in front of senior goalie Davis Ike.
Ike, especially early on, was key to keeping Central Catholic in close contact with Mars, the WPIAL power that was also making its first state final appearance. He was credited with 13 saves.
“I knew they were getting a lot of shots,” Ike said, “but they were shots I could get eyes on and stop. Once the guys started to get comfortable in front of me, it was over.”
Central Catholic also controlled play at the X. Senior Derek Lystad won eight of the 12 face-offs contested in the opening half.
Mars coach Bob Marcoux was very complimentary of the Vikings. The Fightin’ Planets end their season with a 22-1 record.
“They were about what we expected,” he said. “We saw them on film and we knew they were really, really good. We knew they had no weaknesses.
“I think we did a pretty good job of stopping their big guns, but they had a bunch of other guys who stepped up and played really well. Their goalie was tremendous, their face-off guy was tremendous and they were very good in every single phase of the game,” Marcoux said.
Saturday’s performance capped an amazing postseason run for the Vikings. They went 2-0 in the EPC playoffs, 3-0 in the District 11 postseason and 4-0 in the state tournament.
Central Catholic pulled off the extremely rare championship trifecta.
“We peaked at exactly the right time. The kids were so focused, it was laserlike with these kids,” Dolphin said. “All we had to do was give them a couple of guidelines and after that it was all up to them. They did a tremendous job.”
“The best ending,” Schifko said, “you could ever imagine — 2021 state champs.”