PIAA Class 3A Boys Lacrosse: Garnet Valley survives tight scrape against Spring-Ford

CONCORD — There is nothing quite like the final minute of a Garnet Valley boys lacrosse playoff game.

The Jaguars’ crazy 8-7 win over Spring-Ford in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A state tournament Tuesday evoked memories of last week’s overtime victory over Springfield for the District 1 championship.

The Jaguars (19-3) were cruising along with a three-goal lead when the Rams scored twice in 19 seconds to give the riled up fans severe heart palpitations. In the blink of an eye, Garnet Valley’s Andrew Goldt, who scored three goals and assisted on two, and Ethan Potochar, who had two goals, were playing defense in the form of keep-away with midfielder Josh Graham.

With 1:33 remaining, senior Ian Evans scored his second goal to keep hope alive for the Rams (18-6).

The last minute was frenetic as the Jaguars got possession while the Rams played such physical defense you could hear oohs from the crowd each time there was a check thrown or, in the case of Graham, collisions.

Graham looked like a car wreck in NASCAR, his body bouncing off this opponent and that one. Incredibly, he maintained possession of the ball despite being almost flattened, twice.

“He was like a pinball,” said Jaguars coach Frank Urso, who had a hard time believing a penalty flag wasn’t thrown. “Listen, he does a great job for us every game. He’s a big player for us.”

Graham was none the worse for wear after the game, and like Urso, happy to get the victory.

“It’s called, I didn’t see it coming,” Graham said. “We practice trying to maintain possession in the fourth quarter. It did not go as we practiced it, let’s just say. When I got hit, I started rolling on the ground and I was like, ‘oh, shoot,’ and I just looked for an open guy. I had no idea how I held on to that.”

The Jaguars needed one more play to seal the victory, and that was an interception by middie Luke Mingioni, who ran out the last eight seconds.

The Jaguars never trailed. They led, 8-5, entering the final frame in which the Rams scored the only goals.

“We got lucky, I think,” said Jaguars goalie Drew Keaveney, who stopped 10 shots. “We definitely came in a little unprepared for their speed and just how they came out and played. We may have downplayed them a little bit.”

A win is a win, though, and make no mistake the Jaguars worked hard for this one. On Saturday they oppose Mount Lebanon, which rampaged past McDowell, at a site and time to be determined. Look for something crazy there because a first-round game matching Garnet Valley and Spring-Ford, two of the better teams in the most competitive district, was a mild shocker.

Parker Williams and Luke O’Donoghue had goals for the Jaguars. Brady Welsh scored twice for the Rams.

“That was definitely not up to our standard,” Graham said. “But I’d much rather be walking home knowing I have practice tomorrow morning than not. I’ll take that W every single day. As coach said, there’s three seasons. There’s regular season, there’s districts, and there’s states. I think we got kind of hung up because we won the district season. Now we know we’ve got to keep on working because we’re going against bigger and better teams now.”