Mother nature steps in on Blue Demons district bid, conclusion today

Lighting forced the suspension of play in Kennett’s boys lacrosse District One opening round game

By Dave Conard Sports Editor, KennettTimes.com

GLEN MILLS-As the PIAA District One class AAAA playoffs got underway Tuesday, it looked on paper at least that the number eleven seeded Jaguars should walk right over the Blue Demons as they visited the hollow that Garnet Valley calls home.

 

The hosts set the tone early as Brandon Dowd was able to sneak the ball by Kennett freshman goal tender Zach Longacre to give the Jags a 1-0 lead with 9:07 left in the first quarter.

 

The home crowd, including the frogs in the basin that were making an eerie almost freakish call, were silenced quickly as Matt Worrall split the defense on a feed from Jake Tully knotting the game at one apiece, sparking the number 22 seeded Blue Demons’ throng of fans in attendance to erupt in celebration.

 

“We are going to give it our best effort,” said Kennett head coach Bob Allvord prior to the game. “We’ll see what happens.”

 

True to the coach’s words, Kennett played stellar defense the entire first half, throttling the explosive Jaguars attack holding them to two tallies in the opening period, before again evening the score on an ESPN Sportscenter-esque play.

 

Alex Fornoff, who had carried the ball deep into the Garnet Valley zone, saw Jeff Tinkoff breaking into the zone around the 25 yard line and hit him with a laser accurate pass that Tinkoff, who also laces em up the Blue Demons ice hockey squad, one timed into the twine with 6:17 left in the opening half.

 

As the second quarter progressed, Kennett held serve with Garnet Valley and were in position to take their first lead of the tilt, when the Jaguars were flagged for interference, until the Blue Demons made their first defensive faux pas of the game.

 

Inexplicably, the defense allowed Vail Urso to break in all alone on Longacre from the 20 yards away as the Jags forward pulled the Kennett net minder, who was the difference in the game through out the entire first half making nine saves, out of position sneaking it by him into the net, giving the home team a 3-2 edge.

 

The defensive corps of Anthony Torello, Matt Patrick, Alex O’Brien, Jake Tully along with the back checking of Tinkoff did an outstanding job, keeping the game at a one goal advantage for the Jags by clogging the passing lanes and keeping the high scoring brothers duo of Robert and Jules Raucci under control.

 

Longacre responded to the great play in front of him as he stoned Jags sniper Mike Lanham from point blank range with 33 seconds left in the opening half, snaring the shot in the webbing of his goalie stick.

 

As time was winding down it looked as though the teams would enter the break even at three as Torello had an excellent scoring opportunity, but his shot rapped off the post with 5 ticks left on the clock.

 

Unfortunately for the Kennett cause, the lightning that could be seen on the horizon during the intermission and would eventually cause the game to be suspended until Wednesday didn’t move into the immediate area until there was eight minutes left in the second half, which was owned by Garnett Valley.

 

The Jaguars controlled play and the ball fro almost the entire third period in which Robert Raucci and capatain and older brother Jules Raucci posted two goals each to give Valley a 7-2 edged after three periods.

 

The weather rolled in forcing the game to be halted by the Garnet Valley Athletic Director and the officials, initiating a 30-minute wait between strikes of lightning, which was reset for the final time at 9:28, when the decision was made to suspend play.

 

The conclusion of the game will ensue at Garnet Valley High School on Wednesday at 5 pm. The winner will move onto the second round of the PIAA District One playoffs versus the winner of the Pennsbury /Harry S. Truman game.

 

Kennett            1   1   0   X   -2

Garnet Valley            2   1   4   X   -7