By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area
** Click the links to the left to access hundreds of photos and dozens of video highlights from the championship game!
** Look below the story to find the full list of 2009 All-Northern Region first team honorees.
Langley Coach Earl Brewer, still dripping from a celebratory water-cooler dousing, held the game ball high in the air as his players huddled close and said simply, "You guys are going to have to let me keep this one."
The remark -- and the reasoning behind it -- sent the Saxons into a frenzy.
After seven appearances in the Northern Region championship game since Langley's program began in 1989 -- four of them under Brewer's guidance -- the Saxons captured their first regional title Wednesday night with a thrilling, 6-5 double overtime victory over Robinson.
"I think the headlines tomorrow should read, 'Finally!'" Brewer said, laughing. "It's been so long coming. But I knew this group was going to do it."
Tied at 5 headed into the second four-minute, sudden-death overtime period, Langley fought for -- and eventually won -- possession of the periods' first face-off when senior defender Trevor Shafran finally corralled the loose ball and fed it to senior goalie Galen Kuney to settle things down.
What ensued was a play that will forever live in Langley lacrosse lore.
Senior midfielder Jeremy Kuney brought the ball up-field and sent it behind-the-net to waiting senior attacker Ryan Ningard. Ningard circled behind the cage before passing the ball off to junior attacker Ethan Bailey. Not seeing an opening, Bailey safely fed the ball back out to senior midfielder Alex Devlin, who stood alone near mid-field.
Devin quickly ran toward the goal and fired the ball back to his left, but the pass deflected off the outstretched stick of Jeremy Kuney and fell to the ground.
Somehow, it turned into a perfect bound-pass to Bailey. The junior scooped up the loose ball, worked his defender to find inside position and then fired a shot that found the top-right corner of the net that gave the Saxons the victory with 3:02 left in the second sudden-death overtime period.
"I got matched up with a short stick so I thought it was time to go," said Bailey, who scored a game-high three goals. "I got the edge against him and it gave me enough time and space to sneak one in."
Bailey pumped his right first in the air, dropped his stick and was instantly swarmed first by junior midfielder Joey Byrne and Jeremy Kuney. The rest of the Saxons threw their sticks in the air as they raced to dive into the celebratory pile-up.
"Seeing that ball go in was just unreal," Jeremy Kuney said. "I didn't believe it.
"So many times I've seen this team come so close ... I don't think it sunk in until I was laying at the bottom of the pile."
Jeremy's twin, Galen, was one of the last to join the celebration but was as instrumental as Bailey in assuring it would happen. Galen Kuney made several jaw-dropping saves, including three in the overtime periods. He and his counterpart, Robinson junior goalie Kennand Kevan, shined throughout the game.
"Every game he comes up with a sensational performance," Jeremy Kuney said of his brother. "He makes all the saves we need him to make ... even ones that no one should get to. He's amazing."
So, too, was this night. And that game-winning moment.
"I froze for a second when that ball went in ... I didn't know what to do," Brewer said. "Then I thought of all the people in my life -- my wife and my two sons and my mom who passed away two years ago -- all the people who made me what I am today.
"I could picture my mom looking down on me tonight and saying, 'You're going to get this one.' And, just like always, she was right."
After a brief pause, Brewer added one last thought: "The knock on Langley lacrosse has always been that we didn't have any heart. But we showed tonight, against a heck of a team, that we've got plenty of it."
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
Robinson 0 2 2 1 (0) (0) -- 5
Langley 1 1 2 1 (0) (1) -- 6
Goals: Robinson 5 (Daniel McNulty 2, Alex Barber, Connor Ruddy, Thurmond Shaw); Langley 6 (Ethan Bailey 3, Joey Byrne 2, Alex Devlin).
2009 All-Northern Region First Team Honorees
All-Americans
Grayson Dahl, Sr., McLean
Alex Devlin, Sr., Langley
Steve Gombos, Sr., Chantilly
Derek Kegerreis, Sr., Chantilly
Stefan Kowalski, Sr., Thomas Jefferson
Ed Reed, Sr., South Lakes
Coach of the Year: Kevin Broderick, Chantilly
Assistant Coach of the Year: John Nolan, South County
Man of the Year: Bill Maglisceau, Annandale
Attack
Henry Brigham, Sr., Washington-Lee
Will Cybulski, Jr., Madison
Derek Maltz, Jr., Stone Bridge
Ryan Ningard, Sr., Langley
Paul Tunick, Sr., W.T. Woodson
Midfield
Alex Devlin, Sr., Langley
Stefan Kowalski, Sr., Thomas Jefferson
Daniel McNulty, Sr., Robinson
Eric Schauder, Jr., West Springfield
Kevin Smith, Sr., Marshall
Mike Turpyn, Sr., Chantilly
Defense
Grayson Dahl, Sr., McLean
Steve Gombos, Sr., Chantilly
Sean Phelan, Sr., West Springfield
Ed Reed, Sr., South Lakes
Trevor Shafran, Sr., Langley
Goalie
Derek Kegerreis, Sr., Chantilly
Galen Kuney, Sr., Langley