As the interstate games rapidly come to a close Pope John Paul showed their northern opponent a little southern hospitality for about 15 minutes until they decided that there was a lacrosse game to win and they stormed back to defeat Grayslake North 14-9 on Tuesday night in Boca Raton.  Forgetting that spring break was over PJP started the first period as if they wanted one more day at the beach.  A dreadful first quarter showed PJP committing nine turnovers and putting only four shots on goal while allowing ten shots on goal, with four of those finding twine as underdog Grayslake took a 4-0 lead after one.  Grayslake, a young team that graduated a number of players from last year’s 16-5 squad, played a very smart offense in the period, moving the ball very well and spreading the scoring around. PJP got back in sync in the second, outscoring GN 7-1 to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.  PJP pretty much put the game away with a 6-3 third quarter margin and the two teams traded goals in an uneventful fourth as Coach Andy Bolger emptied the bench late in the game. Pope’s offense cleaned up its’ act with the ball handling as they only turned it over 6 times combined in the 2nd and 3rd but one thing that can be an issue down the line is that only three of the 13 goals in the two quarters was assisted and that at times they didn’t recognize open teammates.  It seems that PJP’s players tend to play to the opposition and consistency has been a problem this season. Still plenty of time to correct that for the playoffs as they are likely playing Boca Raton in the first round of Districts, regardless of the result of the Spanish River game Friday.  PJP already holds a win over Boca but the playoffs require maximum effort this year as the District is so tough. Grayslake is coached by Brad Fish, from upstate NY (Rutgers grad) and the team shows a lot of the same traits as Coach Fish’s playing experience.  They worked the ball very well and played off each other.  Six of their nine goals were off assists and #18, Freddie Williams, is a St. Leo recruit so Florida fans can see him in action next year in the Sunshine State.  They play Boca Raton on Thursday before heading back to the balmy weather of suburban Chicago to continue their schedule. As said before, Grayslake played an excellent first quarter, aided by PJP’s sloppiness.  At 8:47, Alex Fletcher opened the scoring for the Knights, taking a crease feed from behind the right side of the cage by Jack Donellan as PJP didn’t rotate to the area and Fletcher finished right-hand high for 1-0.  Then at 5:35 Donellan took a right crease feed from Freddie Williams after Williams split 2 defenders after the re-start and ran down the right alley.  Donellan found himself all alone and it was 2-0.  Just a minute later it was 3-0 as Matt Aikin scored unassisted by raking a loose ball wrist shot off the ground from in front of the left side of the net.  Then at 2:50 GN finished the run on Fletcher’s second, also unassisted, picking off a clearing pass on the left side and dodging down the right alley before firing right-handed to the high, far side to end the quarter at 4-0. Pope finally got on the board at 8:39 of the second as Chris Castellon made a spin dodge from the left wing and made his way to the crease and finished with a low, near side righthander to cut the lead to three.  Grayslake responded at 6:46 as Curtis Bye took a right wing feed from right goal line extended (GLE) from Logan Morita and found net with a high, short-side right-hand shot and the lead was 5-1.  But then PJP completely took control of the period, limiting GN to only three shot attempts in the period, and causing 7 turnovers, and scored 6 consecutive times in less than 7 minutes to go to halftime up 7-5. Patrick Brower started the run at 6:39, taking Mikey Urso’s feed off an Urso face-off win and firing a left wing shot past GN goalie Dean Jones to ignite the run.  At 4:42, Pope made it 5-3 as Brower scored again, unassisted and short-handed (6 on 4) as he took advantage of GN’s soft man-up pressure to dodge down the left alley and finding the far top corner left-handed.  Clearly this was the true turning point of the game to me as GN squandered a 6 on 4 advantage and yielded the short-hand goal; this pretty much took the sails off GN and Pope jumped at the opportunity to increase the pressure.  Just 46 seconds later the lead was down to one as Drew Minchew took a Castellon feed at the left crease and shot a low ‘worm burner’ between the goalie’s legs for 5-4.  At 2:40 the game was tied on Minchew’s unassisted tally as he curled from behind the left side and hitting the far top corner.  Then with 1:18 left Castellon scored unassisted as he replicated  his first goal.  Then with 22 seconds left Pope finished the run with Castellon curling from behind the left side and somehow finding the top corner as he was falling down to make it 7-5 at halftime. Grayslake could have collapsed after that run but they hung tough early in the third and Spencer Davis cut the lead to one at 9:29 on an EMO as he took a low left wing feed from Dami Oladunmoye up top and fired a step-down bullet to the low right side of the net, beating Pope goalie Niko Morfogen (11 saves).  Pope then responded with 2 goals in 16 seconds to take their first 3-goal lead of the game as Minchew scored unassisted as he cut from the left wing to the middle and placed the shot low between the legs and that was followed by Jake Boyer’s unassisted goal as he cut from the right wing to the middle and finished left-handed high to the short side.  But GN would not go away and they responded with two goals of their own.  At 6:52 Sean Monaghan scored unassisted as he dodged to the middle from the left wing and shot low, short side.  Then at 5:25 Charlie Walker took a feed from behind the cage from Jack Dobovsky and fired right-handed from up top and it was back to 9-8. But Pope then went on the run that broke the game open, scoring four times in less than 5 minutes to end the third at 13-8.  At 4:33, Minchew curled from left GLE and hit the net with a high, short-side shot.  That was followed at 3:06 by Urso, taking advantage of a fast break as he ran down the right alley before finishing with a right-hand, low shot to the far side.  Just 19 seconds later Minchew pretty much repeated Urso’s move and with just :09 on the clock Castellon scored on EMO, taking Minchew’s right goal-line extended feed up top on the right wing and firing to the top left corner to end the period. The fourth quarter was quiet as the two teams traded goals to make the final 14-9.  Castellon again took a Minchew feed, at 5:39, again on EMO, again from GLE, again on the right wing and again to the far side, but this time low, not high.  Just to stop the again’s . . . Grayslake then finished the day at 3:06 as Andrew Casillas got in the score book, taking advantage of a turnover and resultant fast break, as Collin Perry found Casillas alone on left wing. Fun game to watch.  Grayslake’s coaching staff was happy with how the team played offensively and praised Pope’s athletes and lacrosse talent to me after the game.  Coach Bolger wasn’t very pleased with the start of the game but was relieved that his team responded to the deficit. PJP is back in action on Friday, traveling Military Trail North and west on Yamato to meet cross-town district rival Spanish River while Grayslake gets to go the opposite direction, traveling Military Trail South to Glades eastbound to take on Boca Raton.  As for me, I continue my week in Jupiter for Benjamin tomorrow and Ponte Vedra on Thursday.  Both games now loom large for Top 10 polling implications.   Team Statistics Faceoffs:  PJP 16 – 11 Shots:  PJP 46 – GN  34 Shots on Goal:  PJP 31 – GN 20 Turnovers:  PJP 20 – GN 22 Penalties:  PJP 7 – GN 3   Individual Statistics   PJP II Drew Minchew  5G/2A Chris Castellon  5G/1A Patrick Brower  2G Mikey Urso  1G/1A Jake Boyer  1G   Grayslake Alex Fletcher  2G Jack Donellan  1G/2A Matt Aikin, Curtis Bye, Spencer Davis, Sean Monaghan, Charlie Walker and Andrew Casillas  1G each Freddie Williams, Logan Morita, Dami Oladunmoye and Collin Perry  1A each   Thanks to Coaches Bolger and Fish for taking the time to talk to me before and after the game and good luck to both the rest of the season!