Granby Memorial Boys Lax Clips Avon Falcons 6-5 [Video]

The boys lacrosse team took sole possession of first place in the North Central Connecticut Conference with a thrilling 6-5 victory over rival Avon High on Friday afternoon in Granby.

Granby attackman Gerry Maroney scored the game-winning goal with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter with a low shot that eluded Avon goalie Cameron Dowd (12 saves), who was outstanding all afternoon.

But the Bears defense, sparked by goalie Nick Burgio’s 16 saves, was the Falcons' equal, limiting Avon’s high-powered attack to its second-lowest goal output in a game this year.

“Defensively, I just thought we played brilliantly,” Granby Memorial head coach Dave Emery said. “[Nick Burgio] has been a three-year starter and he’s a three-sport athlete. I don’t know what to say other than we just love him. The kids feel great playing in front of him because he’ll give you everything he’s got and every once in a while, he’ll have a transcendent game. And I thought today, when a goalie plays that well, it starts to affect the offense, ‘What do I have to do to get the ball past the guy?”

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With the victory, the Bears avenged their only loss of the season - a 9-3 defeat at the hands of the Falcons that came on April 10. The defense, according to Emery, was the difference between the two games.

“The first time we played them, [Burgio] was forced to see a lot of shots in transition,” Emery said. “You can’t ask a goalie to stop that kind of stuff. If you give him a chance to face something other than the tail end of a fast break, he does very well.”

Granby Memorial improved to 10-1, 8-1 in the NCCC and has one fewer conference loss than Avon High, which fell to 9-2, 6-2 in the NCCC.

Emery, for his part, was thinking too much about being in first place in the conference.

“For one day, maybe,” he said. “We’re 10-1 now, but we play Northwest Catholic on Monday, we’ve got Hall coming up. … so, we feel great about where we are right now, but we certainly have to keep it rolling.”

Avon High head coach Scott Kossbiel did not sound like a coach disappointed with his team’s effort.

“They played pretty good,” he said. “They fought hard and they were into it, we just need to score more on settled offense.”

Avon High appeared to be on its way to an easy victory in the early going, grabbing a 2-0 lead just three minutes into the first quarter on goals by Taylor Maniatty and Colin Moore.

“Avon is so dominant on the faceoffs, they have the ability to do that,” Granby Memorial head coach Dave Emery said. “I told my team at 2-0 that I wasn’t worried.”

That lead proved to be the only time that either of the two teams led by more than one goal, as the Bears clawed back to take a 3-2 advantage into halftime on consecutive goals by Zach Brown, Zach Quinn [see video] and Jesse Freedman.

“Immediately after the 2-0, we kind of stabilized things and started to show signs that the early game jitters were over and a little bit more focused and more settled. The problem with today was the emotions were running so high, we just needed to settle down.”

Settling down meant slowing down Avon High’s transition game that can pile up goals quickly and in bunches.

“They had a great game plan, we pushed the ball really well and they took that part of the game away from us and it showed up on the scoreboard,” Kossbiel said. “The last time it was 9-3 and we didn’t score many settled goals in that game, we scored them in transition.”

Avon leveled after intermission on a superb goal by Maniatty off a feed from Anthony Gruttadauria. Freedman put Granby Memorial back on top at 4-3 later in the third with his second goal of the game.

Moore tied the game again with a goal at 10:18 of the fourth quarter, only to be answered by Freedman again just over two minutes later to give the Bears a 5-4 lead.

Avon wouldn’t go away, however, as Guttadauria scored off a feed from Jeff Demers with 4:09 left in regulation to knot the game at 5-5. All of which set up Maroney’s heroics for the Bears, who held on as the final seconds ticked down and the players streamed out onto the field in celebration.

“Today we needed five more minutes on the clock,” Kossbiel said. “We just got our transition game going late in the game, but time ran out.”

There is essentially a three-way race for the top two positions in the NCCC between Granby Memorial, Avon High and Somers. The top two teams - not four - qualify for the NCCC tournament final.

Avon High and Somers both have two losses in conference, while Granby Memorial has just one.