NAPLES — After two regular season defeats to St. Andrew’s, Benjamin boys lacrosse rode a runaway fourth quarter to win the one that mattered.
The Buccaneers defeated the Scots, 13-11, in a Class 1A state championship rematch, successfully defending their title and completing a program-defining three-peat.
After watching their Palm Beach County counterparts hoist the trophy each of the last two years, No. 1 nationally-ranked St. Andrew’s will have to spend another year lamenting ‘almosts’ and ‘what-ifs.’
The Buccaneers’ trophy case, meanwhile, is looking just a bit shinier after withstanding two separate Scots rallies to emerge victorious.
First-year head coach Duncan Clancy soaked in the victory moment, lauding his team’s perseverance and “blue-collar mentality” to the game.
“First and foremost, all the credit to the boys,” Clancy said. “They played so hard for all four quarters. Effort was never a question. This team this year needed to play like that. In years past, we could out-talent people. This year, we just had to grind it out, and we did exactly that.”
Entering Saturday’s state championship rematch, Clancy knew that his Buccaneers (16-5) hadn’t given St. Andrew’s (20-4) their best game during two regular season defeats, acknowledging the two earlier matches had “really frustrated and motivated this group.”
The Buccaneers put words to action, leaping to a four-goal lead in the first quarter, befuddling the top-seeded Scots on both sides of the field.
Part of that success was the dominance of Johnny Lago in the faceoff circle, as the sophomore outplayed his St. Andrew’s adversary for the majority of the game, leading the Benjamin supporters to praise him with “MVP” chants after the game.
“Johnny Lago has gotten so much better throughout the year,” Clancy said. “We gave him the vote of confidence before the game, that this is his game. He really grabbed the bull by the horns, played so hard, and was really a microcosm of the game-plan for today. He was the embodiment of it.”
Lago suggested that the last month in its entirety has been spent preparing a plan for St. Andrew’s, which Matt Null said centered around “controlling the middle of the field.”
While the Bucs were able to do that when it mattered most, the early lead was no exactly indicative of the full match ― as games between these two squads so often go, a one-sided affair was simply not meant to be.
St. Andrew’s roared back into contention, finding the back of the net three straight times in five minutes of second-quarter action.
The game shifted once more.
The Bucs would find their groove again, courtesy of leading goal-scorer, Jack Kelleher, whose final score staked Benjamin to a 6-3 halftime advantage.
Halftime conversations must have borne fruit for the Scots, for whatever head coach Tony Seaman and Co. said, the Scots came out in the third and squeezed back-to-back goals — via Mateo Moran and Cooper Crone — past Benjamin’s Tatum Little.
The Bucs wouldn’t let them take the lead, however, finding another slim advantage through Sawyer Fasano following a close-range save by Little, with Null buying some breathing room to open the fourth quarter.
“There are always going to be ebbs and flows in every game, especially a championship game where emotion runs high,” Clancy said. “For us, it’s just about grounding our guys and getting back to doing our job and, collectively, we would just rebound as a group.”
The goal of the game might have been a result of some trickery from Campbell Hogan and Null.
Hogan came across the perimeter behind Null, who faked a pass to his senior teammate before pivoting and firing a laser past Theodore Loucas.
“It was just a lot of instinct,” Null said. “I think I just saw open space in the middle and took advantage of it.”
The goal staked Benjamin to a 9-6 lead inside of nine minutes to play and opened the floodgates for additional goals from Mac Johnson, Kelleher, and Null, and Jack Hansen.
The Scots rallied for five late goals, but the comeback attempt fell short in a 13-11 title victory for Benjamin.
One win is a title, two is back-to-back, but a three-peat . . . is this a dynasty in the making?
“100 percent,” Little said. “A dynasty is only built when everyone cares for each other. I think the love that every teammate has for each other on this team is what got us here.”
Alex Peterman is a high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Benjamin boys lacrosse beats St. Andrew’s, three-peats as state champs
Reporting by Alexander Peterman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
