By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

Sherwood’s boys lacrosse team didn’t beat Wootton but it sure agitated the Patriots.

Wootton racked up a staggering 12 penalties -- many of the vicious variety -- compared to four by Sherwood and still won 12-10 by rebounding after Sherwood took an early lead and holding on when the Warriors rallied in the game’s final minute.

It was a physical, intense game from the get-go, but the Patriots had just too much firepower in the end and remain undefeated this season at 13-0 with one game left on the regular-season schedule.

But after this game, it’s clear that the Patriots haven’t won the region title just yet.

“We knew they were a good team,” Wootton senior Mark Jutkowitz said. “I don’t know, we just didn’t execute tonight.”

Sherwood (9-2) scored the first two goals of the game in minute, 38 seconds off the sticks of Scott Fricke and Kevin Laskin.

It took Wootton nearly five minutes to notch its first goal, but once the Patriots did they scored three in exactly one minute. Matt Greenblatt got it going, Jutkowitz got the second and Gordie Gold notched the third.

Wootton didn’t trail from that point on and scored five straight to close out the first quarter, including two straight by senior sharp-shooter Mike Cresham, who finished with four goals.

“We had to come out stronger,” Cresham said. “We gave them two fast ones. That may have been a little unexpected.”

Sherwood didn’t roll over, though. The Warriors, who were coming off a big win over Quince Orchard and had taken just a loss to Whitman earlier this season, got a man-up goal from Michael Begley to make the score 5-3.

The two teams traded goals back and forth and went into halftime with Wootton up 8-5. Sherwood scored the first goal of the half on a left-handed laser by leading scorer Kyle Johnson and was right back in the game.

That’s when Wootton really flashed its offensive weapons, scoring four straight to take a 12-6 lead. Jeff Zifrony scored on a nifty assist from Chris Doran, then Doran scored on an assist from Greenblatt. Cresham displayed his prowess to shoot on the run and Zifrony notched his third goal of the game to cap off the run.

Sherwood’s Johnson didn’t give up, scoring two straight goals to pull it to 12-8 with 2:27 left in regulation. Begley scored again with 55.7 seconds left and then won the faceoff and set up Johnson for his fifth goal with 47.2 seconds remaining.

Wootton won the next faceoff, however, and was able to run out the clock.

“It’s always tough to lose, but when you lose a game like that and the kids played so hard, they know all the hard work they put in this year is going to pay off,” Sherwood Coach Chris Saputo said. “They know where they fit in and they’re right at the top.”