Running on all cylinders from mid-way through the first quarter, the Braves (22-0 overall) earned the biggest amount of respect, demolishing the Eagles behind strong midfield play, especially at the X, where junior Marshall Johnson once again dominated play. Marshall especially weaved his magic in the X in the first half where the Braves etched out a 10-2 lead by the mid-point.
Johnson, who was named the Class A tournament MVP, was not the only reason for CA’s success. Another junior, Brian Scheetz, controlled a lot of the Braves’ play from both sides of the Eagle goal, scoring four times and dishing out three assists. Senior Austin Rogers scored a game-high five goals, while seniors Justin Tomzak (three goals, one assist), Connor Henderson (two goals, three assists), and Nick Munn (one goal) shared the scoring with sophomores Tom Lacrosse and Gannon Osborn each adding a goal a piece.
Johnson extended his talent past just scoring goals, winning 13 of 14 faceoffs in the first half, his only loss on the draw in the first 24 minutes coming from a push penalty by one of his wing-men. Having no other choice, the Eagles moved long-stickman Ian Nash to the X after halftime which caused Johnson to lose four of the next five draws but once Johnson, an obvious quick-learner, figured Nash out he lost just one more draw the rest of the game.
“I knew at halftime they would switch on me,” Marshall said after the game. “When we walked out of the locker room at the half I told myself, ‘Don’t be surprised if there is a pole out there.’ And there was,” said Marshall, referring to long-stick midfielder Nash. “I don’t think he had much experience. He would just bowl me over. It took me a bit to figure a way to beat that but once I did it was OK. But what an awesome team win. We all had specific roles tonight. Mine wasn’t to score, it was to win faceoffs and get possession. When Irondequoit got the ball, the (CA) defense played great.”
After the game, an exhausted CA coach Ed Mulheron marveled about his team.
“What a great group of kids this has been to work with,” he said, covered in sweat and breathing deeply. “I’m just really happy that we have another game to be together. Our staff and these kids, it’s just unbelievable. Our goalie, Scotty (Bement), made a huge difference. In the third quarter, we knew they would get a flurry at some point, but he made incredible saves.”
Bement, who was named the Section 5 Defensive Player of the Year, made 14 saves compared to his Eagle counterpart, Tyler Nash, who made seven stops.
CA’s Tomzak scored the game’s first goal just over four minutes in, with Irondequoit scoring two by Greg and Drew Coholan to answer back.
Rogers then scored his first goal to even it up at 2-2 by the end of the first quarter.
The Braves then kicked it into high gear in the second quarter, scoring eight unanswered goals to lead 10-2 at the half. At one point the voracious Brave offense scored four goals in a one minute and 56 second time span. Henderson, who scored all three of his goals in that second-quarter surge, talked about his teammates.
“Austin Rogers, with his five goals, and the rest of our attack played really well,” understated Henderson. “I felt our defense played a really great game also. Our goalie stepped up big and everyone just played well today.”
“I was ready. We were all ready,” said Rogers. He then went on to talk about gaining some respect.
“We came out here to prove something. People were telling us that we were underdogs coming into this game, even though we were seeded number one. So we just came out here to prove something and we played really well.”
In the second half, even with trying a change at the X, the Eagles could not deter the resolve of the Braves as CA went on to outscore the Eagles 8-3 in the second half. CA attackman Brian Scheetz explained why.
“Well we just moved the ball really well,” Scheetz said. “The injury to the defenseman who was guarding me (Sean Davern), we took advantage of that. Everyone contributed and it was a great team win.”
Scheetz, Tomzak, Rogers, Evan Roth and Ben Knapton, along with Johnson and Bement made the 10-player plus MVP All-Tournament team. Drew Coholan and Mike Wallenhorst from Irondequoit were selected along with Nick Scalzo from R.L. Thomas and Kyle Denhoff from Penfield.
