This incarnation of the Blue Ridge boys lacrosse team has some serious familiarity with Collegiate.
The Cougars knocked the Barons out of the playoffs on this same weekend a year ago and they squared off back in March. So the Barons knew they’d be in for a war against the Cougars Saturday in the first round of the VISAA Division I playoffs.
Blue Ridge was ready. And Blue Ridge delivered.
The Barons used a second half surge and some heady play down the stretch to knock off Collegiate 15-13 and advance to the state quarterfinals. It had been six years since Blue Ridge won a VISAA Division I playoff game, the 2012 state semifinal victory over STAB that stands as perhaps the biggest win in program history. But that drought is over now as second-year coach Michael Herring and the Barons picked up their first state playoff win in this era.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our team, this is a big win today,” said Blue Ridge Spencer Amacher. “We owe it to coach for getting me here and getting half the guys on the team here and making us good players.”
Blue Ridge got there with a big-time performance by VIC player of the year Keegan Kozack who notched four goals and two assists and a four-goal performance by Szabo, who gave the Barons a jolt in the third quarter with a one-man fastbreak goal off the faceoff.
“I just have to go in with the mentality that I’m better and I’m stronger and once the whistle blows I’ve got to go fast,” Szabo said. “It’s all about the mentality you have.”
That goal was one of Szabo’s three that was part of a 7-goal third quarter surge that turned a 7-5 halftime deficit into a 12-10 advantage going into the third.
“We talk a lot about being resilient, about having a short memory,” Herring said. “We made a string of gross errors — we couldn’t have played much worse in the first half. So I was very excited that we were able to refocus and come out and make some plays.”
In the fourth, Spencer Amacher notched his second goal to make it 13-12 Blue Ridge with 5:12 to play. That’s when things got really interesting as Blue Ridge held possession for the next three minutes plus with a combination of wild loose ball situations going the Barons’ way and savvy clock melting helping shorten the game. Blue Ridge kept its collective cool as the game heated up, and with 1:37 to play Christian Guttilla scored his second goal of the game to push the Blue Ridge lead to 14-12.
Szabo’s fourth goal came with 1:08 left on an open goal as Collegiate looked to double team and trap the ball, and the 15-12 lead proved insurmountable in the closing seconds as Blue Ridge gained possession and closed the door on the Cougars.
The Barons actually overcame a narrow Collegiate advantage on the faceoff and a nearly dead even performance on groundballs, a testament to the work of close defenders Andrew Landman, Liam Moran and Charlie King as well as longstick midfielder Cam Kewley who had four ground balls. That group and keeper Tyler Carrichner (five saves) got stops when they needed them and prevented Collegiate from building a bigger lead in the first half, opening the door for the third quarter run.
Jack Charboneau finished with two goals and an assist for the Barons while Tommy Collins had a goal and two assists. Sophomore Adam Thistlewaite had five ground balls while Szabo led the Barons with six ground balls on the day.
Jack Piland and Michael Brost each finished with hat tricks for Collegiate.
Now the Barons will look to pull off a shocker Tuesday on the road against top-seeded St. Christopher’s. This weekend though, they can enjoy a huge step forward for the program.
“A bunch of these guys are here because I got here a year ago and for them to change the culture, make the state tournament for the first time in a long time a year ago, it’s a credit to all the work they’ve done,” Herring said. “We gave them a little bit of direction and it’s all these guys. We’re pretty proud of these guys.”
