BLAX Wins PAC-10 Championship with OJR Win

It's going into overtime... That was the first thought that popped into my head after Owen J. Roberts knotted it up at eight with 9.1 seconds to go in regulation. I don't think I was alone.

The Wildcats held the lead for most of the game. While Spring-Ford tied it up quite a few times, Owen J. Roberts kept answering, taking a one, and sometimes two-point lead over the Rams. That was until junior Paul Major hit the go-ahead goal with 40.1 seconds left to go.

Story of the game... Owen J. Roberts answers.

"After they scored to tie it, my heart just dropped," said Major. "I said, 'Alright, we need this.' I saw nine seconds left and felt like we needed a quick face-off. Justin [Kelly] was able to pop it forward and get it down to Casey [Pettine] and then down to Zach [Monzo]."

And that's how it all went down. In 9.1 seconds, the Rams worked the ball in toward the Wildcats' net quickly, got the ball to their senior leader, and Monzo scored literally at the buzzer.

The Spring-Ford Rams Boys Lacrosse team is PAC-10 Champions once again.

"Last year was probably our best year with all the guys we had," Monzo said. "We had 22 seniors, lost them all. We knew it wasn’t going to be like that this year, but we still knew we could take care of business here. We weren’t too worried, we knew it was going to be a good game, but being a senior this year and winning it means a lot."

It was a tough game for the Rams. In the first quarter, Spring-Ford was on defense almost the entire time. Despite that, they only let up one goal in the frame.

"Defensively, we just shut them down," said head coach Kevin Donnelly. "The first game, we were on their hands all game. The second game, our feet were planted, our heads were not moving, we weren’t doing the right things. Today, we came out and we were ready. Last time we played poorly. This time, we knew what we were supposed to do. [Matt] Messerle was fantastic in goal."

saved 18 goals, let up eight and was shot on 48 times. Earlier in the season, the Rams split with the Wildcats.

On the other side of the ball, John Pennell of Owen J. Roberts scored four of the eight goals.

"I have no idea who was scoring, they love to cut and they love that backside," Donnelly said. "Pennell is usually on that backside and he usually tries to bury it. We just played our defense and attempted to slow them down."

For the Rams, the ball was spread out pretty evenly on the scoring side. Major led the team with three goals. Kelly, Pettine and Monzo had two each.

"That was a 48-minute, up-and-down the field battle," Donnelly said. "They played hard. Owen J. played a great game and played hard as well. Zach and Paul draw so much attention of the defense that they just suck the eyes there. Now we’ve got guys flowing around and cutting in with the ball. That’s so effective. Hopefully we can keep distributing and get everybody going."

The 9-8 win gives the boys their second straight league championship. They will most likely be heading to the District Tournament. The seeding meeting will be held on Sunday.

Overall, the team was happy to honor their senior leaders.

"It’s awesome, especially to end it like that," said Major. "It’s great for Zach and all the seniors to win it their senior year. We only have five on the team. They came the whole way and it’s just awesome."