1 week Ago By Neil Geoghegan
KENNETT SQUARE – Twenty five seconds is a very brief amount of time in the course of a 48-minute boys’ lacrosse outing. But sometimes, every second counts.Such was the case Thursday in a down-to-the-wire 9-8 Ches-Mont victory for Kennett over visiting West Chester Henderson.
Locked in a 6-6 tie late in the third period, the Blue Demons scored three times in less than a half minute, and it wound up being the difference.“It was very big. We got the momentum back there,” said Blue Demons’ junior midfielder Jonah Silverstein.
“That three-goal stretch really did hurt,” acknowledged Warriors’ head coach Sean Evans. “I think that was the difference, right there.”Coming two days after a big road win at Unionville, Kennett is now 4-1 in the Ches-Mont and 4-6 overall.
The Demons entered the day 13th in the District 1 2A power rankings, and the top eight will make the field at the end of the regular season.“Tuesday’s win (over Unionville) was certainly a game-changer for us,” said Kennett’s first-year head coach Matt Petrick. “We feel like we kind of flipped a switch there.
“We made a couple changes in strategy and personnel and we are going to roll with those going forward.”It was Henderson’s sixth straight defeat. The Warriors (1-5, 3-7) scored 30 goals in their first four outings, but have managed just 28 goals in the last six.
“Our guys are playing hard, so I am not concerned with the effort. We are not giving up. Hopefully we can put it all together one of these games soon.
”“We are very young, so we learned a lot today. I just wish we could have squeezed out a win today. We really wanted this one as a program.
”Kennett’s (10) Colin Kelly goes tumbling while controlling the ball around a crowd of West Chester Henderson defenders (6) Jake Brogan,(14) Ryan Turse and (24) Charlie Vogal on Thursday. (PETE BANNAN-DAILY LOCAL NEWS)The Demons took their first lead midway through the opening period and never gave it back. But Henderson did comeback to knot the score on two occasions: at 2-2 and again at 6-6 after a goal by sophomore attacker Zach Abrahams with 5:45 to go in the third.
That’s when Kennett cranked up its winning push. Silverstein got it started after cashing in a pass from teammate Cayden Kilgore, and then 12 seconds later Silverstein scored again in transition. And the surge ended when senior Colin Kelly won the ensuing faceoff and scored just 13 seconds after that to make it 9-6 with 3:48 on the clock.
“After a big defensive stand, to go down and get three (goals) really quick like that was huge. It completely changed the momentum,” Petrick said.“We’ve been working on trying to teach the boys when to push and when not to push.
There are starting to figure it out.”The Warriors fought back with goals by junior Jackson Lewis and Abrahams to slice the margin to one with 4:38 remaining, but were unable to get the equalizer.“This is a momentum game, and whoever has the momentum normally comes out on top,” Evans said.
“We just couldn’t seem to get it and keep it.”Henderson wound up with a slight edge in shots on goal (15-14), but Kelly had an impact from the faceoff circle for the Demons. The midfielder lost his first three faceoffs, but bounced back to win 13 of the next 16.
“We’ve been down early a bunch of times this season,” Petrick said. “I keep telling our guys to keep plugging away. And once we get the lead we have to keep our foot on the gas and just control the game.
”Lewis paced the Warriors with three goals and four assists, while Abrahams and freshman Joey Raffaele each added two goals. Henderson was without two key injured players: starting goaltender Blake Beal (ankle) and Sean Brice, a senior captain who is out for the season with a broken collarbone.Silverstein led all scorers with four goals and an assist.
“We had a bit of a slow start to the season, but we are really getting in the groove now,” Silverstein said.“The win at Unionville was big for us. Now we have back-to-back wins and we really having something going for ourselves.
”Kennett 9, West Chester Henderson 8W.C. Henderson 3 1 3 1 — 8Kennett 4 2 3 0 – 9W.
C. Henderson goals: Abrahams 2, Lewis 3, Raffaele 2, Turse.Kennett goals: Silverstein 4, Rafferty, Hulme, Hartman, Fisher, Kelly.
Goalies saves: Meisenhelter (WCH) 5; Bates (K) 7..
