GAME BOY: Dulaney's Cody Lehrer (above) scored his game-wining third goal in the second overtime to go with four assists in Saturday's 12-11 victory over visiting Towson.
Towson's Graham Franke (above) won 16 of 24 faceoffs, scored twice and had an assist, but his Generals fell short in a 12-11 overtime loss at Dulaney on Saturday.
by Lem Satterfield
(See video highlights and interviews below)Cody Lehrer took a pass from Jay Mann, gained a step on his defender following a left-side sprint, and then lept into the air while simultaneously releasing a left-handed shot from about 15 yards and into the far side of Towson goal past keeper Tom McDade in lifting Dulaney to Saturday's 12-11, double-overtime victory in Baltimore County League action.
The goal, at 2:48 of the second, four-minute overtime period, sent Lehrer's teammates into a frenzy, as they stormed the field and smothered their hero beneath a pile of celebrating bodies.
The win not only ended a game that was tied four times, but the Lions also erased a six-game winning streak by the Generals (4-1 Division, 7-4 overall) on the way to earning the county's Division I East crown by improving to 5-0
against the league, and, 12-2 overall.
"I had a short stick on me, so I was going to take it to the goal. I was up in the midfield, and I just split it down the alley and took a shot," said Lehrer, a natural right hander. "I played midfield from my freshman through junior year, and this is my first year playing attack. So I actually felt comfortable doing the split, so I went with it."
Ranked 16th in the DigitalSports Top Top 20, the Lions also earned a berth opposite 18th-ranked, Division I West titlist Catonsville (10-3) in Tuesday's overall county title game.
The Comets, who last won an overall title in 1956, have averaged 14.4 goals in nine straight victories since losing, 9-5, to the Lions on April 4.
"Catonsville is an awesome team right now, and they're peaking," said Lions coach Jake Reed, a Dulaney alumnus. "We're going to have our work cut out for us."
The Lions had their work cut out for them as well against the Generals, overcoming excellent efforts by the Generals' Graham Franke and Tom Higinbothom, who combined for eight goals and two assists.
Franke scored twice and won 16 of 24 faceoffs, including six of the game's first seven. Higinbothom had an assist and six goals, his last of which forced overtime when he buried Franke's pass with 13.7 seconds left in regulation.
The play began with Trace Crum handling the ball behind Lions' keeper Alex Williamson (12 saves) before finding Franke for the regulation-ending sequence.
"Whenever you play Dulaney, the energy level's real high. I knew coming into the game that it was going to be a war. I just gave everything I could, and we came up with a loss. But we left it all on the field," said Franke, whose Generals had averged nearly 13 goals in six straight victories.
"This definitely gives us a lot of confidence. You know, Dulaney is usually predicted to be a stronger team," said Franke, whose Generals had suffered their previous loss, 12-7, to Franklin, which the Lions edged, 7-6.
"The way we performed out there," Franke said, "you know, gives us a lot of confidence that we can take it to the next level and do something in the playoffs."
The Generals and the Lions received 12 saves each from Tim McDade and Williamson, respectively, with each coming through with big stops in the first overtime session.
Danny Lacy scored twice, Josh Merwin had two assists, and Drew Bracken had a goal and an assist for the Generals.
Jay Mann (two goals, two assists), Brad Ruzicka (three goals), Kenny Naylor (two goals), Spencer Martin (one, one), Kevin Tignall (one goal) and Patrick Peddicord (one assist) were among the seven different offensive contributors for the Lions, who had assists on eight of their goals.
"I thought we played awful. But you've got to hand it to our kids, they perservered. And Cody stepped up. He's a senior. It's his last Baltimore County [League] game, and he put it in the goal, great shot when we needed it," said Reed.
"When we stayed within our gameplan, we scored every time. When we didn't stay within our gameplan, we turned the ball over, it's that simple," said Reed, also crediting Franke for his play.
"[Franke] did a great job. Towson played a good game. They coached a good game. They did what they needed to. They slowed it down. They isolated guys. They made us slide so that we missed the second or the third slide," said Reed. "Their goalie played very well. They did exacely what they needed to do. But our kids, you know, you have to give it to them. They perservered."
A week earlier, however, Leherer had stood at nearly the same position by the Dulaney bench after scoring the Lions' final goal in a game.
But that was following an 8-7 loss to visiting unbeaten Urbana of Frederick County, a setback Lehrer explained as being a case of the Hawks being "a little more aggressive than us," adding, "they won the ground-balls battle and just put more goals up on the board."
That loss was the complete opposite of Saturday's game in that the Lions led, 3-0, after the first quarter against, only to be out-scored in the second quarter to face a, 5-3, halftime deficit and fail to regain the lead.
Down, 8-5, against Urbana with 8:33 to play, however, the Lions nearly came back to win. They were within, 8-6, with 4:51 to play after Ruzicka scored off of Mike Roe's assist.
But Lehrer did not score the Lions' final goal against Urbana until there was 4.5 seconds to play, and by then, that was too little, too late.
The Generals also led early, 1-0, following an unassisted goal by Bracken. The Lions responded, however, with three unanswered goals for a lead of 3-1 as Lehrer assisted Naylor, Ruzicka and Tignall, respectively, at 9:29, 6:12, and, 3:49, respectively, of the first quarter.
Balance play, said Lehrer, is a must, considering the Lions are without injured star player, Eric Keppeler, and have been throughout much of the season.
"Everyone's got to step up when a player like Eric's not in the roster," said Lehrer, whose Lions were tied at 3-3 with 2:23 left in the first quarter following goals by Higinbothom -- assisted by Josh Merwin (two assists) -- and Franke, respectively.
"We've got a lot of depth," Lehrer said. "And I think everyone's going to step up. That's good."
The Lions were up, 5-3, with 8:54 left in the first half after Mann's unassisted score preceded Lehrer's off of a pass from Patrick Peddicord.
Higinbothom brought the Generals within, 5-4, after his doorstep shot bounced in off of the Williamson's chest, but Leherer fed Naylor for a 6-4 lead with 4:43 remaining before the intermission.
Franke and Higinbothom, however, continued to pace their squad, with the former roll-doging a defender before spinning away and firing a right-handed, 20-yarder to make it 6-5 with 3:26 left in the half, and Higinbothom tying the game at 6-6 at the 2:42 mark.
The Lions took a 7-6 lead into the half, when Ruzicka fired in a pass from Martin that bounced from the far pipe to the near pipe and in 73 seconds prior to halftime.
Lehrer made it, 8-6, at 9:38 of the third quarter, intercepting a pass from a defender that was intended for McDade, and stuffing it into the goal.
"I just tried to come out and play as hard as I could. The whole team
had that mentality," said Lehrer, whose eighth score was his last point in regulation. "I mean, Towson-Dulaney -- you can throw the records
out the window and it's going to be a tight game. No one likes to lose, so it's great to rebound with a win like this."
Dulaney 12, Towson 11, 2OT
Towson 3 3 2 3 0 11
Dulaney 4 3 3 1 1 12
Goals: T- Higinbothom 6, Franke 2, Lacy 2, Bracken.
D- Lehrer 3, Ruzicka 3, Mann 2, Naylor 2, Tignall, Martin.
Assists: T- Merwin 2, Franke, Higinbothom, Bracken.
D- Lehrer 4, Mann 2, Martin, Peddicord.
Saves: T- McDade 12.
D- Williamson 12
Half: 7-6, D