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SJP II Scores Last Five Goals to Beat American Heritage-Boca 13-9

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
Thanks to Euri Mead for sending in these pictures!   District rivals. Long time coaching rivalry. Kids playing at breakneck speed . . . 102 shot attempts . . . whiplashed goalies . . . 50 missed the cage. And again, a pet peeve. PARENTS, ENOUGH. No, it wasn’t the best reffed game.  So What? You took away from the game last night. Thankfully the kids kept themselves in check for the most part. After the first quarter I was worried about that . . . that it could get really nasty. But the kids kept themselves from going over the line. Well done. Too bad I can’t say the same thing for those in the stands. If you can’t control yourselves as well as your kids did, you really need to look at a mirror and wonder why. When I was growing up it was a STAPLE of raising kids that you taught them ‘life isn’t fair’ and you meant it. So is lacrosse refereeing . . . GET USED TO IT. Parents who instinctively know that life isn’t fair seems to think it is while watching this sport. GET OVER IT. Or encourage your kid to take up figure skating, where of course no bad grades have ever been given out . . . oh, except that Olympic scandal a few winter games ago Or gymnastics, where no one has ever gotten a lower mark than they deserved . . . oh, except that Olympic scandal a few summer games ago Or basketball, where of course no charge has ever been called a block incorrectly . . . Maybe tennis . . . at least that has instant replay for line calls! But this is a high speed, fast decision game that maybe 1% of the adults in the stands could run enough to be good at this.  I know I am not fast enough to keep up at age 58. GET OVER IT. Because last night your kids bailed you out in the decorum stage last night.     Not to let the refs completely off the hook last night. No one can accuse me of not supporting you.  But you did not get control of this early enough, and frankly the kids bailed you out too. This was a very physical game.  It was not a 12-2 game, if you get my drift.  Yes, AH/B did let themselves get some undisciplined penalties to make that number rise.  But in the first half there was a lot of times you could have made a point. Maybe the refs need to eject a parent or two via the proper protocol?  Time to send a message.     SJP dominated the last 14 minutes of the game . . . they won every second half faceoff except the last one. 63 shots on goal. As a matter of fact, how rare is it for two high school teams down here to get off 102 shots while only turning it over 25 times? That’s pretty good offense. And many of those turnovers were simply tough rides on clearings.     This one was a lot of fun to watch if you weren’t rooting for anyone.  Even when I was keeping my fingers crossed on some potential high speed crashes in the middle during the transition game. There was a crispness to the game, passing was fast and players were looking to find open teammates.  Both goalies were called upon to make key saves and they came through.  This was an interesting contrast in that SJP is a very experienced team and AH/B was in transition with many underclassmen playing prominent roles.  It showed the most in the fourth quarter, when AH/B’s young attack got away from what had worked well the rest of the game and started to rush their offensive looks, getting off low percentage shots. Before the game AH/B head coach Jeff Goldberg told me the key was the 6×6 defense, and could his team hold SJP to single digit goals.  I doubt he expected the team to face 63 shots.  And frankly I thought his defense played pretty well.  But the offense issues late had a knock-on effect late in the game as his midfield, not deep to begin with, had to spend a lot of time in the fourth defending, and that also led to SJP’s late goal run. And the inability to win a second half faceoff cost important possessions and just as importantly, kept the offense from being able to establish a rhythm, contributing to the bad decisions in the quarter. SJP on the other hand, was able to sustain the offensive pressure the whole game and the looks eventually got a little better, and they wore down AH/B on the defensive end.  Two of the goals in the late run were shots that AH/B goalie Justin Lugo got a piece of but couldn’t corral.  SJP has a solid attack, as shown in the Benjamin game, and that attack really only stopped themselves earlier in the game.  The first quarter was a good example, as they got off 15 shots but only 7 hit the cage and a number of those would be what an English announcer would call ‘ambitious’, due to their length.  But over time, the foursome of Timmy D’Antuono, Wyatt Martin, Jared Chaloux and Shawn Gildea eventually cut down on the length of their efforts and found each other more down low.  Gildea in particular, started the game as if he had a few too many cups of coffee with his intensity, but settled down well and led all scorers with 3G/2A, as the four combined for 11 of the 13 goals. AH/B was led by Colin Sypek’s terrific all around effort, supported by Dante Moore.  Ryan Cohen started off the game strongly but SJP was able to clamp down on him as the game went on.  There’s a lot to like with AH/B’s younger contributors and over the next few years this district will really be tough to play against.  There already will be a pretty good team that won’t make the District playoffs this year and I don’t see that changing anytime soon as Boca and SJP have rebounded this year and West Boca and AH/B are showing new momentum too.  I called Jensen Beach the best 0-8 team in the state’s history Sunday, now I can say that AH/B ties them for the best 1-win team this year too. The future for this area continues to blossom. The kids and the programs are raising their game . . . Time for the parents to do so too.     The entire first half was played within a one goal lead by either team and the first 2-goal lead was midway through the third.  The next two goal lead did not occur until 2 minutes to go in the game.  That should tell you a lot. SJP opened the scoring at 11:17 of the first as Cam Etten found D’Antuono in front of the net from behind the cage for the left hand low shot.  AH/B got that back at 10:06 as Cohen went unassisted, dodging to the middle from the right wing for the left hand shot between Stephen Brower’s legs to tie it at one.  AH/B took the lead at 5:47 as Sypek worked around the cage to the right side and fed Cohen on the right wing for the low left hand shot.  SJP took advantage of the EMO at 2:40 as Gildea started with the ball on the far left outside wing and he found Martin all the way across on the right wing for the step down left hand to the low short side for 2-2.  Gabe Finkelstein gave AH/B the lead back with 1:07 left as he took advantage of a turnover in front of Brouwer and easily finished to the low right to end it at 3-2 after one. Gildea and Chaloux teamed up for the first time with 9:49 left in the second on the left wing as Chaloux fed him lower with Gildea hitting the top far corner for 3-3.  At 6:05 Nick Caterina found D’Antuono low on the left wing and he went between the legs for 4-3 SJP.  Sypek tied it up on a great shorthand solo effort at 4:56 as he beat 2 defenders to the middle from he right side and his left hand found the top middle of the net.  A little over a minute later AH/B took the lead back as Moore took Finklestein’s feed on the left crease and went high for 5-4.  SJP rebounded at 2:33 to tie it again as Anthony Pecoraro darted to the middle on the fast break and found D’Antuono wide open on the left crease for the easy goal and with only 50 seconds left in the half SJP again regained the lead on another EMO, as Chaloux got open in the middle and took Martin’s top right feed for the low shot.  But of course AH/B tied it back up, as Tyler Yarnell popped the following faceoff forward and best Brower between the legs off the fast break to make it 6-6 at the half. SJP regained the lead at 10:34 of the third as Chaloux was able to go down the right alley and near GLE fooled Lugo on the short side as it looked like Lugo was expecting him to continue behind the net.  The lead grew to 2 at 7:16 as Gildea went down the left alley and his left hand beat Lugo low, as he got a piece of it but couldn’t stop it. AH/B then fought back hard, scoring three times in less than 5 minutes to regain the lead at 9-8.  At 6:50 it was Moore taking the Sypek feed off a fast break near the left crease, that was followed at 3:25 as Sypek finished off a give and go with Cohen on the right wing, one-timing to the low left and at 2:02 it was Finkelstein curling the left wing to the middle and finding Moore 5 yards out for the low right shot.     But that was it for AH/B on the night.  SJP scored two killer goals in the last 28 seconds of the third, with Martin walking in from the left wing and beating Lugo from 10 yards out and off the next faceoff it was Chris Johnson holding off his defender while barelling his way to the goal from the right alley and he finished with something like a shovel shot to regain the lead after three. Both teams went back and forth in the fourth, with SJP trying to run time and get off good looks, making AH/B stay on defense and AH/B unfortunately playing too quickly.  The score remained the same until the last two minutes and SJP took advantage of the possession advantage to finish with three goals in the last minute to break open what was a tight game.  Brandon Moore at 1:59 and then Gildea and Chaloux combined together for the last two, with each scoring once. Almost an anti-climax to the way the rest of the game was played. But that’s hardly unusual when experience and youth class at this level. It was fun to watch, either way. SJP is back in action Frieday, hosting SA while AH/B hosts Nease on Friday.   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  SJP  17-7 Shots:  SJP  63-39 Shots on goal:  SJP 31-21 Turnovers:  SJP  16-9 Penalties:  AH/B 12-2   Individual Statistics   SJP Shawn Gildea and Jared Chaloux  3G/2A each Timmy D’Antuono  3G Wyatt Martin  2G/1A Chris Johnson and Brandon Moore  1G Anthony Pecoraro, Cam Etten and Ncik Caterina with 1A each Stephen Brower with 12 saves   AH/B Dante Moore  3G Colin Sypek  2G/2A Ryan Cohen  2G/1A Gabe Finkelstein  1G/2A Tyler Yarnell  1G Justin Lugo with 18 saves   Thanks to Coach Bolger and Coach Goldberg for talking to me before and after the game . . . and a pleasure to meet Skip Flanagan, head coach of Avon Old Farms too.