Sports
Pottsgrove's Branden Mercier Fights With Team Philadelphia Elite
Falcons' teammates Mercier, Jimmy Case, plus OJR's Nick Tordone won the Senior A bracket at the Tri-Lax Lacrosse Festival.
PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J. -- Branden Mercier has lacrosse dreams beyond Pottsgrove High School.
The Falcons standout defenseman wants to continue playing at a Division 1 college. To meet that goal, he competes as often as possible.
"I love lacrosse," he said. "I play all year. I had to give up football because of how much lacrosse I play. I play straight through the fall, winter everything."
The summer has the senior playing for Team Philadelphia Elite, a team that draws kids from Pottsgrove, Downingtown East and West, Great Valley, Upper Merion and Radnor, among other areas.
Team Philadelphia Elite performed well at last weekend's Tri-State National Summer Lacrosse Festival, held in Princeton, N.J. The club navigated through 63 other teams in the Senior A bracket to claim the championship.
In the final, Team Philadelphia erased a 3-0 deficit to roar past 2009 winner Smithtown West (N.Y.), 4-3, in overtime.
"It's a complete change from spring lacrosse against Owen J. [Roberts] and all of those teams," said Mercier, who finished six-12 with the Falcons.
"All the teams in our division (are) all great players, so I push myself to play against the best in the country."
Mercier scored the second of Team Philadelphia's goals, after an end-to-end run, and Aaron Murphy tied the game late.
Dylan Ikkala, who also scored Philadelphia's first goal, won it in overtime when he received the ball at X, drove hard to his left and buried a shot from seven yards out.
On the final day of the tournament, Team Philadelphia had to win five games, including a quarterfinal game against the Wet Bandits, which consists of kids from Abington, Hatboro-Horsham, Upper Dublin and Wissahickon.
Three Owen J. Roberts athletes also competed in the annual weekend tournament. Midfielder Nick Tordone was part of the winning Team Philadelphia, while Christopher Antich and Matt Lenge played for Man Up Lacrosse, in the higher Senior AA bracket. Antich and Lenge are entering their sophomore seasons.
