ELDERSBURG — Jared Cirulli hauled in a long pass, avoided stumbling backwards, and found his footing. He wrapped up around the left side of the net, and the Liberty senior snuck one past Century goalie Chris Yanchoris.
And that came when the Lions had two players in the penalty box.
The undefeated Liberty squad continued its path in the postseason with a 12-7 win over the visiting Knights on Monday night in the Class 2A-1A West Section 1 final. And as with most games the Lions have played this season, they remained in control.
"Any man-down goal, it's a huge momentum boost," Cirulli said. "In this game in particular, it's crucial."
That goal was Cirulli's only in the first half, but it gave Liberty (17-0) a 5-2 lead with 3 minutes, 34 seconds until halftime. The Lions never led by fewer than two goals the rest of the way, as they managed to stay atop their crosstown rival.
Cirulli tallied three goals and an assist, while fellow senior captain attack Jack Boyer netted three goals of his own.
After nearly 10 minutes without either team scoring to open the game, Century senior attack Chris Rinehart scored the first of his four goals to give the Knights (12-5) an early lead.
But Boyer scored 25 seconds later. And just 36 seconds after that, senior midfielder Paul Fiscella scooped up a loose ground ball in front of the net and buried it for a 2-1 lead. The Lions never trailed again.
"It's never good when the other team scores first, but we responded very well," Cirulli said. "We just kept feeding off of that."
When Century and Liberty matched up on April 14, the Lions notched a 9-4 win. But despite beating their rival on the road, there was one aspect of the game that went the Knights' way — faceoffs.
The two teams have arguably the top two specialists in the county in Liberty junior Jason Stead and Century senior Zach Keepers. And in their last meeting, Keepers certainly won.
This time, Stead was much improved. The Lions won 14-of-22 faceoffs and used that to have long possessions on the offensive end.
"We definitely put some extra time in, we worked on some different stuff," Liberty coach Mike Flemming said. "He put extra time in as well, and it's one of those situations where he's a kid that knows that he's a difference maker in a game and he felt like he didn't do his job last time.
"After that last Century game, he turned around and has been phenomenal for weeks on end, so this was this chance for him to make sure he was taking care of business the way he felt he should've the first time."
The Knights entered this game playing perhaps the best they had all season. They had won five in a row, including a pair of playoff wins over North Carroll and South Carroll.
After avenging an earlier loss to the Cavaliers on Friday, Century couldn't do the same when facing Liberty.
"I couldn't be more proud, I didn't know what I had going into this season," Knights first-year coach Jeremy Benson said. "We had a lot of talent and I'm really proud of how far they came, the wins we got, and how we rebounded from losses."
Century may be in a position to succeed in the next few seasons as well. It had several younger players excelling in key roles this season, such as Yanchoris, a sophomore, freshman midfielder Jalen Stanton, and freshmen attack Carter Truby and Brett Kropinski.
Liberty advances to the region final looking to win its second straight 2A-1A West title. Last year, the Lions beat Walkersville to advance to the state tournament.
This season, Liberty hosts Boonsboro in the region final on Wednesday at 6 p.m., now that the Lions eliminated one of their biggest rivals.
"We knew it was going to be a hard game, rivalry, a lot of emotions," Cirulli said. "It's a good feeling getting it over with, we're on to the next one."
Goals: C-Chris Rinehart 4, Jalen Stanton, Austin Johnston, Brett Kropinski; L-Jared Cirulli 3, Jack Boyer 3, Paul Fiscella 2, Jarrett Pfeifer, Nick Griffin, Mark Conway, Nate Lamb.
Assists: C-Brandon Johnston, A. Johnston; L-Fiscella, Cirulli, Noah Rohrer.
Saves: C-10 (Chris Yanchoris); L-12 (Evan McCarthy).
Halftime: Liberty, 6-3.
jake.rill@carrollcountytimes.com
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