American Heritage-Boca jumped out to a 6-0 first quarter lead, saw that completely evaporate into a 9-9 tie after three, and then recovered to outscore Martin County 3-0 in the fourth to come away with a 12-9 win on a beautiful night for lacrosse , , , not to mention pretty much anything else too. AH-B’s Dante Moore and Roberto Villasano combined for 7 goals to lead the way for the Stallions, as they were able to capitalize on an impressive shooting efficiency, putting 21 of their 30 shots on goal.  Martin County showed flashes of what they can be but their inconsistent play came back to bite them at inopportune times.  MC was led by John Senior’s 3/2 with younger brother Anthony Senior chipping in 3 assists. The game itself featured 3 main runs with the last one deciding the final result.                As noted, AH-B jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first.  Colin Scypek opened the scoring just 43 seconds in as he worked his way along the left wing before dodging to the middle, finishing with the right hand to the low left corner.  Just 23 seconds later Moore took a Villasano up top feed low on the right wing and in one motion turned right, hitting the far upper corner.  At 8:21 Moore went down the right alley and hit the high left side and only 23 seconds later Patrick Boylston duplicated the right alley dodge, going through Martin goalie Eric Simon’s legs.  It went to 5-0 at 5:00 as Villasano started on the right wing, spun left to the middle and his left hand hit the low right corner.  26 seconds later Moore completed the run, taking advantage of a turnover and a fast break, as he dodged in from the left wing and going right hand low, with Simon getting a piece, but not able to keep it out of the net. Martin finally broke through at 3:10 as Kyle Hyatt found John Senior cutting down the middle and fed him from right GLE, with Senior finishing to the low right side.  The lead was cut to 6-2 at 1:29 as Owen Anderson was allowed to step into a wing shot from 15 yards and he hit the top left corner and with 40 seconds left Tanner Roe took an J. Senior top right wing feed in the middle and after turning right hit the low left corner and all of a sudden the lead was halved after one.                Less than two minutes into the second the lead shrunk further as J. Senior took a behind the net feed on the right wing from his brother Anthony and he ripped a left-handed shot into the top short side for the EMO goal, making it 6-4.  AH-B pushed the lead back to 3 at 6:04 as Conor McAdorey’s lengthy skip pass from the left wing found Nick Lounsbury on the right wing and his step down found the low left corner.  MC got that one back at 3:29 as Roe was found by J. Senior cutting down the middle and Senior’s right GLE pass hit him in stride.  The lead again got pushed back to 3 as Villasano and Scypek teamed up on a fast break off a turnover and Villasano went low left to make it 8-5 at the half. Martin climbed back to within two a minute into the third on EMO as J. Senior again found the top short side from the right wing after his brother fed him from behind for 8-6.  The lead shrunk further as Will Ross took advantage of a loose ball in front of the net and his high shot eluded the goalie at 7:40.  McAdorey then scored a key goal shorthanded as Scypek found him all alone off the crease from the left side and at 4:44 the lead was back to 2.  Martin then scored twice late to send the game to the fourth tied at 9.  First, Jared DiSalvo was left alone at the crease and Hyatt found him from the left wing, with DiSalvo finishing easily and then J. Senior tied it off a back door cut, being fed by John Ponte with 29 seconds left.                The teams traded possessions early in the fourth before Lounsbury regained the lead for AH-B off a turnover as he gutted out a lengthy dash, veering off to the right alley before his bounce shot eluded the goalie at 8:38.  At 6:16 the lead went to 2 as Moore scored his fourth off Scypek’s feed, as Scypek curled to the left wing from behind and Moore filled in the space, ending up all alone in front for 11-9.  Villasano added the insurance goal at 4:44 unassisted as he dodged from the left wing to the middle, finishing to the top left corner.  Martin had some good chances to cut into the lead but was not able to convert and the game ended with AH-B finding a way to win when they could have suffered a mentally difficult loss from a large lead. Both teams symbolized last night how tough high school sports can be when you are building programs and have gotten to a certain level of competence.  The mental starts to take precedence over the physical and last night’s game showed that to a ‘T’ . . . both teams showed plenty of capability . . . and both showed how hard that is to sustain over 48 minutes.                A good lesson for both sets of players to remember when they want to get to the next level . . . American Heritage-Boca is back in action on Thursday, traveling to North Broward Prep while Martin County travels to Jupiter on Thursday for a tough matchup, as Jupiter downed Stoneman handily last night.   Team Statistics Faceoffs:  MC 14-11 Shots:  MC  43-30 Shots on Goal:  MC 25-21 Turnovers:  AH-B  21-17 Penalties:  AH-B  4-0   Individual Statistics   American Heritage-Boca Dante Moore  4G Roberto Villasano  3G/1A Colin Scypek  1G/3A Nick Lounsbury  2G Conor McAdorey  1G/1A Patrick Boylston  1G Justin Lugo and Nunzio Amonte combined for 16 saves   Martin County John Senior  3G/2A Tanner Roe  2G Kyle Hyatt  1G/1A Owen Anderson, Will Ross and Jared DiSalvo  1G each Anthony Senior  3A John Ponte  1A Eric Simon made 9 saves   Thanks to Coach Goldberg and Coach VanTassel for talking to me before and after the game