Wootton wins fourth straight region crown

By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

As Wootton waited for its fourth straight 4A/3A West region plaque, Coach Colin Thomson broke the near silence.

“Hey, you guys are awfully quiet champs,” he joked.

Been there, done that. Wootton beat Sherwood, 13-9, Wednesday night at home to once again represent Montgomery County at the boys lacrosse state level.

The undefeated Patriots (17-0) will face Urbana – who defeated Quince Orchard, 13-3, Wednesday – Friday at Arundel High School at 8 p.m.

“We’ve got some unfinished business,” senior goalie Yanni Rindler said when asked why the team was so quiet. “We’re moving on to our next goal.”

Wootton has advanced to the finals once in its past three trips. The Patriots defeated Dulaney in 2007 but fell to Dulaney – the eventual state champions – last year in the semifinals.

This season, Thomson feels the team has a better defense despite graduating a fine one last year and is deeper. The offense isn’t half bad either, as it showed Wednesday night against the Warriors.

“The offense is just clicking and doing really good things on offense, but at the same time the defense is a little bit better than what we were,” Thomson said. “These guys gelled really well together.”

Sherwood (11-3) gave the Patriots another run for their money after falling to Wootton by just two goals during the regular season.

The Warriors trailed by one goal at halftime before Wootton senior Mike Cresham (3 goals) notched the first two goals of the second half and junior Jeff Zifrony (3 goals, 2 assists) followed with a third.

Sherwood was still in the game though entering the fourth quarter, behind by just two goals. The Warriors turned up the pressure on the Patriots and had four great scoring chances in their  first possession with one shot rattling off the post. Rindler made a handful of huge saves during the fourth quarter as well.

Once Wootton got possession, junior Tim Lenardo (2 goals, 2 assists) scored a big transition goal on an assist from Alex Dunlop.  Sherwood once again put on the pressure but had two more shots hit the post before it finally scored its first goal of the quarter with one minute, 32 seconds left in regulation.

Wootton senior defenseman Mark Jutkowitz finished off the game with a nice check on the defensive side, an amazing between the legs maneuver on a ground ball to set up faceoff man Michael Brailovsky for a goal and then a goal of his own.

“It’s a big loss because we definitely felt we could take them,” said Sherwood’s Michael Begley, who scored Sherwood’s first four goals of the game. “We brought the intensity we needed but they’re a good team.”

The regional crown was incredibly special for the team’s four four-year varsity players – Rindler, Cresham, Justin Dhyani and Matt Canter.

“Until you’re actually a senior you don’t really realize the experience of it all,” Rindler said. “If we lose I’m done. Especially, this is my last home game on my home field.”