The boys’ lacrosse team enjoyed a tremendous amount of success last year. They posted a 17-1 record and won the Bergen County Tournament before losing to West Essex in the states.
In addition to stepping up to play in the much tougher Gibbs Division this year, after the kind of success this team has had, they have become a target for every team they play.
On Monday the Thunderbirds defeated powerful Montclair, last year’s Group 4 champion. It set up their game against Northern Highlands as a potential “Trap Game.”
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It seemed that’s just what may have happened on Saturday when the Thunderbirds were handily defeated by Northern Highlands 14-8.
“It’s a hard one to take today, I’ll tell you that,” said Coach Ernie Yenco after the loss. “It’s an eye opener. It better be a wakeup call. This is Gibbs,” the coach explained.
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James Temple hit the mark early in the game to get the Highlanders rolling right from the very start. Their offense continued on the attack and Northern Highlands took an early 3-0 lead.
But after being dominated for the first eleven and half minutes of the game, Mahwah came roaring back when Mark Glicini struck for a pair of goals in the closing seconds of the period to make the score 3-2.
The Highlanders went back on the attack in the second quarter and D.J. Bonafacio banged home a pair of goals to give the home team a 6-2 halftime lead.
Mark Glicini scored his third goal of the game to start the third quarter as Mahwah tried to climb their way back into it. Two more quick goals by Anthony Mordaga and Ryan Magner and it looked as if the momentum had changed as Mahwah was now down by a score of 6-5.
Northern Highlands re-gained a three-goal margin in the third, but Mahwah continued to fight back and managed to pull to within one goal yet again. The third quarter ended with the score at 8-7 setting up a big fourth quarter of action.
It indeed turned out to be huge fourth quarter for the Highlanders as they banged home five goals in the final stanza to seal the 14-8 win.
D.J. Bonifacio led the Highlanders with 4 goals, while James Temple had 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points. John Caufield and Jake Barr each added a pair of goals for Northern Highlands.
Mark Glicini was credited with 3 goals for Mahwah while Joe Kearney and Ryan Magner each netted a pair.
The Thunderbirds will now have to pick up the pieces and put it back together again. That’s something they have not had to face for a quite some time.
“It’s a new feeling for them... for all of us to realize you have to bring it back up,” explained the coach.
They’ll have to begin picking up the pieces right away as they prepare to host Kinnelon on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
