This one wasn’t for the faint of heart. In many ways. An undefeated number one team versus a team looking to  three-peat. It was something to behold, particularly in the first half when both teams were intent on playing the lacrosse equivalent of the full-court press and not allowing the opponent to breathe.  Back the ball carrier into the corner and work the body until the hands come down.  Bumper cars on cleats. At halftime the teams had combined for THIRTY-ONE turnovers and as Brian said at halftime, most of them were forced, not self-inflicted.  Great athletes on both sides getting it on.  The ‘let’s get ready to rumble’ video fit here better. But in the end it came down to a third quarter where LHP outscored STA 7-2.  16 shots, 9 on goal and 7 in the net versus 7/3/2 for STA.  Kyle Richbourg and Jackson Colling combined for 5 of the 7 in that quarter and and STA had to chase the rest of the way. To their credit STA did not wilt in the fourth and was able to claw back within 2 with 2:15 left but their fate was sealed at the 1:15 mark when they were called for a slash and LHP was able to run the clock out to win . . . an interesting rejoinder to the regular season game won by STA when they held off a late LHP rally by running off about 3:30 of game time to end that game. It was a great way to end the high school season as the hundreds of fans in attendance were treated to a game worthy of both team’s efforts this season. For the Highlanders the mantle stays populated with the latest championship crown and for the Raiders an unsatisfactory conclusion to the best season in school history.  But no sense in hanging one’s head.  A school so well known for it’s fall sport now has it’s spring one now on the map. And once again LHP shows what makes it so good, all the way down the line from coaching staff to players and parental support. Let’s see . . . about 293 days until we get to start it all over again . . .   The game started off like we were going to get into the 20’s on each team.  Miles Brown and Michael Costello (not exactly the first two names that you would have guessed would start off the scoring!) swapped goals in the first minute.  Off the fast break Brown beat his defender to goal and got off the the left hand shot to the low right corner at 11:21 for LHP and 16 seconds later Costello evened it for STA with a loose ball scooped up after a faceoff scramble and his right alley dash resulted in a low left corner placed shot of his own for 1-1.  At 7:57 Reid Thedford took advantage of a turnover to score on the breakaway as he went behind the back in front of the goal and the quarter ended with LHP up 2-1. JP Crowley evened it for STA at 10:20 of the second as he picked up a rebound in front of the net and was able to finish low for 2-2.  LHP then jumped out to a 4-2 lead as Colling went down the left alley and his top right bullet at 9:06 made it 3-2 and at 7:05 Conner Aniello took Jake Zerevitz’s left wing feed on the right wing and hit the top left corner for 4-2.  But STA rallied with 3 goals in 1:13 to take their only lead of the game in response.  At 6:27 Louie Yovino as he took JP’s right GLE feed up on the right wing and stepped down, hitting the top of the cage to cut it to one.  At 5:36 the game was tied as Alex Tumminello went down the right alley and hit the low left corner and 22 seconds later Yovino scored on the EMO as he was fed by Alec Cumella up top from the right side and Yovino’s low shot eluded Austin Farwell for 5-4 and we ended the half that way. Richbourg came out with two first minute goals in the third to regain the lead for LHP.  At 11:24 he scored on EMO as Thedford found him from right wing up top and Richbourg beat Michael Adler low with the right hand and 14 seconds later he scored again as Kyle Brown popped the faceoff forward and after the right wing dash found Richbourg up top and his shot this time went top left for the 6-5 lead.  Colling stretched it to two at 8:12 as he cut in from the right wing to the middle and his left hand found the low  left corner for 7-5.  Kevin Crowley cut it to one as his right alley dodge found the low left corner at 7:17.  Less than a minute later Colling again found the net from the middle off a fast break for 8-6.  Aniello and Tiger Graham then teamed up for 9-6 at 4:20 with a critical man-down fast break (in retrospect, probably the biggest goal of the game) as Graham found Aniello all alone on the left crease from the right wing and Aniello’s quick stick found net.  After a second LHP penalty Yovino took Kevin’s feed up top and another rocket launch later it was 9-7 at 3:57.  But Richbourg finished off a fast break as Thedford found him on the left crease with 1:31 left for 10-7 and Thedford curled up the alley from the left side of the net before slipping one past Adler into the top right corner to make it 11-7 at 0:36. Graham made the lead five just 23 seconds into the fourth as he cut down the middle and took Miles Brown’s right wing feed and went low with the shot.  But at 9:24 Kevin Crowley curled from behind left and got to the crease to make it 12-8 and at 7:28 Yovino went pretty much around the entire offensive circle, curling out from the right side before somehow finding the approximately four inch opening on the short side for 12-9.  Colling answered less than a minute later with a terrific low right corner bullet from the left wing at 6:38 to make it 13-9 but 44 seconds later it was 3 again as Tuminello somehow split two defenders on the right alley and while his momentum carried him right managed to get off a left-hand shot that hit the top left corner (gravity defied on that one . . .) and after some possession changes Yovino was able to face dodge the right wing and again fired low to make it 13-11 with 2:15 left but LHP was able to control possession for most of the rest of the game and the trophy was coming back to Orlando. As the final seconds ticked off the boisterous LHP crowd violated Pat Riley’s trademark but I suspect he’ll look the other way on that one . . .or more likely not notice it at all . . . and the kids and coaches celebrated the normal way as Coach Spaulding was finally hit with the ‘shower’.  The kids, learning their lesson from last year, didn’t wait until after the medal ceremony to douse him.  The only damper on the celebration was the STA team not fully hanging around after the game was over.  It’s easy to win, difficult to see your season come up so short after a tremendous run, but the life lesson lasts a long time.  And it would have been nice to see the kids talking together a little more after the ceremony was over. For the seniors of both teams . . .  Caligiuri, Eidson, Thedford, Richbourg, Aniello, etc., and JP, Tumminello, Cumella, Scimek, etc., our best wishes for your future and thanks for so much excellence on and off the field.  Contributing to this marvelous season we all got to experience.  To Coach Spaulding for putting this program at the apex of the sport here and to Coach Crowley for putting together such a great team and season! And thanks to the players for again taking this wonderful sport of ours to another level of competitiveness and accomplishment.  And to those who made this lengthy trip to attend a great event thanks for providing what atmosphere we had. And remember . . . it’s only 293 days until we start it all over again!   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  LHP 16-11 Shots:  LHP 37 – STA 30 Shots on Goal:  LHP 20 – STA 17 Turnovers:  STA 25 – LHP 24 Penalties:  LHP 5 – STA 3   Individual Statistics   LHP Jackson Colling  4G Kyle Richbourg  3G Reid Thedford  2G/2A Conner Aniello  2G Tiger Graham and Miles Brown  1G/1A each Jake Zerevitz and Kyle Brown  1A each   STA Louie Yovino  5G Kevin Crowley  2G/1A Alec Tumminello  2G JP Crowley  1G/1A Michael Costello  1G Alec Cumella  1A   Austin Farwell made 6 saves for LHP and Michael Adler made 7 saves for STA   Thanks to Coach Spaulding and Coach Crowley for speaking to me before and after the game.