Downingtown West Ends Spring-Fords Lacrosse Season in District 1 Play

The Downingtown West Whippets have a long tradition of State Championship Caliber teams while the Spring-Ford Rams were looking to build one for themselves.  In a game that lacked in pace, it sure didn't in importance. Downingtown West used a 4-0 run in the 2nd quarter to break a 1-1 tie to go on and defeat the Rams 8-4, ending Spring-Fords season with a record of 15-5.

The Whippets were led by Senior Matt Logan who had 3 goals while Tyler Keen added 2 goals and 2 assists.  Mike Peppelman had 1 goal and 1 assist and Evan Wolf rounded out the scoresheet with 2 goals and 1 assist of his own.  Goalie Alex Ataifar turned back 9 shots in goal.

The game started with neither team able to get much going early on.  West won the opening face off and controlled possession for the first few minutes with Rams goalie Matt Messerle collecting their first two shots.  At the other end, Spring-Ford also showed patience with their offense in not forcing bad positions and instead moving the ball around to get good looks at the cage.  They too could not find the back of the net.

Finally, Whippet Attackman, Mike Peppelman open the scoring as a man up was concluding by getting a shot thru traffic that deflected off a Ram leg and got by for a 1-0 lead.  However, Spring-Ford would shortly answer right back when Christian McCormick netted a goal off a dodge from behind that got him inside of his defenseman and bounced one by Ataifar to tie the score at 1-1.  That is how the 1st quarter would end.

In the second, the back and forth continued but this time, Downingtown West was beginning to find openings in the zone defense of the Rams.  After another long possession and a few more saves by Messerle, the Whippets started their run. Matt Logan got his first on the night off the feed from Keen and buried an 8 yard shot in the low corner to regain their lead.  Wolf got the next one as another SF penalty was expiring followed by an unsettled goal that left Keen all alone on the doorstep and he didn't miss.  That pushed the lead to 4-1.  

Spring-Ford finally got some time after a Matt Della Croce face off win.  The Rams offense patiently worked to find the openings and while they were able to get 3 consecutive shots off, none were on target and the Whippets went back on the offensive.  After another missed assignment, Keen was alone again in front of Messerle who this time got the better of the shooter to keep the score at 4-1. However after a turnover on the clear, the Whippets pushed that lead to 5-1 on a goal by Wolf from 6 yards out as the half was closing out.  

Spring-Ford would get the ball back with 26 seconds left and after some wild action at the top of the box, Zach Hare found Paul Major on the wing and he ripped one in the upper corner as the horn sounded.  There was some discussion amongst the officials as to whether it counted but they determined the ball had crossed the line before the horn had sounded and the score was 5-2 at the half.

The third quarter continued with a lack luster pace of play but for the most part, Downingtown West controlled the time of possession.  Keen broke thru on an inside roll that Messerle initially blocked but the ball got free and rolled in to make it 6-2.  Messerle and Ataifar were making life difficult for both offenses as they each came up with 4 saves in the quarter.

As the 4th started, the Rams needed some sense of urgency to get back in the game, and they were starting to break down the defensive wall of West. Unfortunately, they experienced same results.  After hitting the crossbar twice in the 3rd quarter, the hit another crossbar in the 4th and a post with another shot. In addition, Ataifar got pelted with two other shots that he saved with the body to thwart the Rams.  However, Major would finally break the nearly 20 minute scoring drought with his 2nd of the night.  As time wound down, the Whippets went in to clock killing mode and the Rams extended their defense out to try and get the ball back.  That resulted in two more one on one goals sandwiched around Major's third of the night.  Unfortunately for Major and the Rams that would be his last of his amazing high school career.

Paul Major, who will be enrolling at the University of Delaware to continue his lacrosse career, capped his 4 years as a varsity player with nearly 230 goals as the all-time Spring-Ford scoring leader.  On the night, he tallied 3 goals with Christian McCormick adding 1.  Matt Messerle and the defense put up a big fight all game long saving 11 shots.

Spring-Ford graduates almost 20 players from this years roster including 8 of the 10 starters from last night.  This team will reload with a number of underclassmen who are poised to start their own legacy.  They will look to break thru the barrier of losing in the first round of Districts at home each of the last two years.

Currrent starters like Alex Marte, Zach Hare, Liam Hare, Matt Messerle, and newcomers that saw time this year such as Alec Orcutt, Carter Gensler, Matt Della Croce, Parker Hartline, Cody Davis, Brandon Dougherty, Greg Bresnan and several other talented youngsters will come together to defend their PAC-10 title and look to take an unprecedented 4th straight PAC-10 Championship.

Fortunately for those underclassmen, they had strong leaders in Seniors Ian Hare (Towson University), Kyle Hofner, Kevin Honoman, Troy Szostek, Christian McCormick, Casey Pettine, Mason Pinciotti, Steve Bock, and DJ Young among many on this team who have shown them the way.  The have effectively passed the torch to the next generation of Ram Lacrosse players.  These guys have a lot to live up to but the Seniors have taught them well.

Downingtown West now moves on to face their rival Downingtown East on Thursday in Round 2 of the District 1 playoffs.  In other PAC-10 district games, Owen J. Roberts fell to Central Bucks East 17-8 while Methacton went down to Ridley 18-4.