Battle-hardened Kennett notches season’s first win over Sun Valley

KENNETT SQUARE – Playing a brutally tough early season schedule usually does one of two things: it can either toughen a squad, or sap a team’s confidence.

On Wednesday in its Ches-Mont boys’ lacrosse opener, Kennett sure looked like a battle-hardened team with loads of confidence. The Blue Demons scored 14 seconds in, wound up notching eight of the first nine goals, and ran away with a 16-3 home triumph over visiting Sun Valley.

“This was an important game for us and starting 1-0 in the Ches-Mont is really big for us moving forward,” said Kennett junior attackman Cayden Killgore.

After dropping its first four non-league clashes to Central League powers Haverford and Marple Newtown, and two elite PAC-10 squads (Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts), Kennett gave rookie head coach, Matt Petrick, his first victory in five tries.

“It was a gauntlet,” Petrick said of his team’s early slate. “We frontloaded the schedule to see where we are at. We are hoping it pays off down the line.

“The boys are resilient. We just kept the message of keep working at it and don’t bail on us.”

The Demons were locked in from the start and it was 4-0 before the Vanguards (2-2 overall) actually got possession and were able to get into the offensive zone. By the end of the opening period, Kennett was in command 7-1, with Killgore and teammate Dylan Hartman each scoring twice.

“The start kind of surprised me a little bit because Sun Valley scored 53 goals in their first three games,” Killgore pointed out.

Just a sophomore, Hartman added three more goals in the second quarter and Killgore dished out four assists to make it 12-3 at the half. Sun Valley’s Brad Carotenuto had two of his team’s goals.

“We knew (Kennett’s) schedule coming in and that they’ve played good teams,” said Vanguards’ head coach Chris Jackson. “Their record had no effect on how we thought of them. We play them every year, so we knew what we were heading into.

“Today Kennett had our number and showed that they are not a 0-4 team.”

Killgore kept producing in the second half, either scoring or assisting on the Demons’ next three goals. And Hartman registered his sixth goal in the fourth period to round out a shutout for the Kennett defense after halftime.

“We messed up on some little things like off-ball cuts, ball watching a lot – simple things we’ve gone over in practice but it didn’t carry over to the game,” Jackson said. “And if you don’t do that, (opponents) will take advantage of it.”

Killgore finished with four goals and six assists to lead all point getters for Kennett, and senior Nate Hulme added two goals and four assists. Senior midfielder Colin Kelly chipped in with two goals and won three quarters of his faceoffs to help the Demons prevail on 18 of 22 from the X.

“We have a ton of confidence in Colin,” Petrick said.

“(Kelly) has been important for us for all three season’s I’ve been here,” Killgore added. “Without him, I don’t think we’d win many games. If you can’t get the ball, you can’t score.”

In all, Kennett wound up with a 26-7 edge in shots on goal.

“Our goal today was to come out and play as close to perfect as we could. And it feels like it’s starting to come,” Petrick said.

“People look at our record and see that we lost our first four games, but it was against tough teams,” Killgore added. “Those games kind of bonded us a bit. They were a test to see how well we can play.

“Now I think we can go on a run here in the next few games. Today we played great as a team.”

Kennett 16, Sun Valley 3

Sun Valley                             1 2 0 0 — 3

Kennett                                 7 5 2 2 — 16

Sun Valley goals: Carotenuto 2, Tinsley.

Kennett goals: Hartman 6, Killgore 4, Hulme 2, Kelly 2, Rafferty, Fisher.

Goalie saves: Griswold (SV) 10; Bates (K) 3; Zurita (K) 1.