Blue Ridge’s Matt Delmonico stood just outside the restraining box as the clock wound down, trying to catch his breath as a defender stood watch over the senior attackman. Teammate Bubba Delaney wasn’t hurt when he laid on the ground after he took a bone-jarring hit from a pair of Virginia Episcopal defenders late in the fourth quarter. He was just exhausted.
“It was our first day out and everyone played really hard, it was unreal,” Delmonico said. “There’s no doubt by the end of the game we were really gassed.”
Blue Ridge had every reason to be worn out, but they also had every reason to celebrate. The Barons knocked off VES 10-6 in a critical season opener, kickstarting an exciting new chapter in Blue Ridge lacrosse.
Things didn’t start particularly easily for the Barons though. After a first half filled with stops and starts that ended in a 3-2 VES lead, Blue Ridge came roaring out of the locker room. Delmonico got the run started with a goal on a nearly-open net after the Bishops’ goalie overextended behind the cage and fell. Khalif Dandy then buried a short from about 15 yardsout in the top right corner of the net just before Michael Carlini finished off a fastbreak. Almost instantly, Blue Ridge was up 5-4 and in control.
“The first half I think we had to get the nerves out,” Delmonico said. “The second half we really came together and got a bunch of goals really fast. Then it just went from there.”
Delmonico, one of six Canadians to join the Blue Ridge program this year, poured in six goals and dished out an assist against VES, while Delaney, another Canadian import, also earned his rest by winning 70 percent of his face-offs.
“He’s another one of the Canadian kids just doing a really good job,” said first-year Blue Ridge coach Nic Bell who got the win in his head coaching debut. “He’s a tough kid, he had knee surgery on his meniscus and he’s just getting back to full strength.”
The influx of talent raises the bar at Blue Ridge, where the Barons will compete for a Division II state title rather than a Division III championship. Blue Ridge advanced to the Division III final back in 2008 before falling 11-10 to Trinity.
Delmonico poured it on in the fourth, scoring two of his six goals to help give Blue Ridge a cushion after two-straight VES goals by Payne McIntosh cut the Barons’ lead to just 7-6 with eight minutes to play.
While Delmonico was coming up big on attack, Blue Ridge goalie Andrew Wilson was coming up with critical stop after critical stop, and appeared to energize the team as he yelled loudly after each big save.
“He was stopping guys from right in front of the net, we couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Delmonico said.
It didn’t hurt Wilson that Blue Ridge unveiled a physical, tough defense spearheaded by local products Will Moss and Jack Hamer as well as another Canadian, Kody TeKanawa. The tandem came up with a lot of physical checks against the Bishops around the crease and did a solid job on ground balls setting up several fastbreak opportunities for the Blue Ridge offense.
Danby finished with two goals for the Barons while Nick Hayes-Watts rounded out the scoring.
The Barons hit the road Tuesday to take on Benedictine at 4 p.m.
