PIAA 2A Lacrosse: Mars boys see season end with loss to Allentown Central Catholic
MECHANICSBURG — For more than three quarters, Mars stayed with Allentown Central Catholic. Then the Vikings earned valuable breathing room that the Planets were unable to overcome.
Grant Weaver’s pair of goals in the first one minute and 20 seconds of the fourth quarter cut Mars’ deficit to 10-9 in Saturday’s PIAA Class 2A boys lacrosse quarterfinal playoff.
But the Vikings netted five of the game’s final six goals to prevail 15-10 at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Park Stadium.
Weaver’s tallies were included in the Planets’ seven shots in the first three minutes of the period. The other five were off the mark, hit the post or were stopped by Allentown goalie Chris Burke.
“We got a bunch of good shots off, just didn’t connect on most of them,” Mars coach Bob Marcoux said.
Four different players combined to score for the Vikings down the stretch, including two goals from James McCarthy. The second gave Allentown its final margin of victory with just 1:09 remaining in the game.
When asked what the difference was that allowed his team to pull away, Allentown coach William Odenthal chuckled and said: “Luck. Look, I’ve been around lacrosse for 40 years and this game could’ve gone either way. Mars hit some posts and there were some calls late that went our way. Mars is a very good team with a lot of talented players. They have nothing to hang their heads about.”
Neither team was able to create separation in the first two and a half quarters. The game was tied six times, the last deadlock coming when Mars’ Jack Tirch found the net to knot the score at 6 with 9:16 left in the third.
Finally, Luke Walter and Tate Shoemaker scored goals 20 seconds apart for Allentown, giving the Vikings an 8-6 edge.
When Shoemaker scored the last of his four goals, the Vikings’ lead was 13-9 with 5:18 left.
“No way did we think it was over at that point, not with Josh Wilburn winning faceoffs for us,” Marcoux said. “But losing Jack Mueller (senior defenseman to a leg injury late in the third), he’s our big communicator out there and that hurt us. We just ran out of gas at the end.”
Mueller was involved in another key sequence earlier in the game. With 6:22 left in the opening period and the score tied at 1-1, he was sent to the sideline for two minutes after it was determined he was using an illegal stick.
The Vikings (18-3) promptly went ahead on Jack Restino’s goal, but Mars answered at the other end as Ben Bowser scored just 24 seconds later.
“That was a two-minute, unreleasable penalty,” Marcoux said. “That could have been a three or four-goal swing in their favor. Instead, Ben goes down and scores and it gave us a lot of energy.”
Restino scored a game-high six goals.
“He’s going to Stony Brook, a D-I school, and is a tough cover,” Odenthal said. “But a lot of different guys are stepping up and that’s what you need this time of the year.”
Weaver paced Mars (19-3) with three goals. Bowser and Tirch both scored twice; Ian Coulter, Blake Cote and Connor Long once apiece.
Burke made 10 saves for the Vikings and Luke Spreng six for Mars.
The only previous meeting between the teams came four years ago when Allentown Central Catholic defeated Mars 14-5 in the state championship game.
Saturday’s loss ends Mars’ four-year run of playing in the state final, but the Planets remain the standard in the WPIAL after winning a ninth consecutive district championship last month.
“A lot of people picked this to be a down year for us because we (graduated) some D-I guys and a lot of really good players from last year,” Marcoux said. “We showed a lot of maturity and I loved coaching this group.”
Allentown will face District 3 champion Trinity in a semifinal Tuesday.
