After Glenelg rallied from three-goals down in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 10 and force the county's first overtime period this season, Mt. Hebron boys lacrosse coach Mike McCarthy never doubted that his team would get the job done.
It was only a matter of getting the opportunity — a difficult task with the visiting Gladiators dominating possession in overtime.
But that opportunity came when junior midfielder Bryce Brookhart deflected a pass in the defensive end, scooped up the ground ball and eventually fed the ball to his older brother Shane in front of the goal. When a defender slid too early, junior Kyle Sutton was there waiting on the left side of the goal for the pass.
Sutton's goal with 9 seconds remaining lifted the Vikings to an 11-10 victory over Glenelg and the program's first win over the Gladiators since the 2006 playoffs.
"Bryce Brookhart made it happen. ... It was textbook fast break," McCarthy said. "Kyle moved up, curled to the ball, and just stuck it in the corner. It doesn't get much better than that."
"We don't get many fast breaks, but we were able to get one," said Sutton, who finished with three goals and an assist. "We came in and realized we hadn't beaten them in a while, and we wanted to get a piece of them. So it was nice."
Entering the overtime, Glenelg carried all the momentum as they scored the only three goals — two from Tyler Nalls and one from Breyer Burford that tied the game at 10 with 24 seconds left — of the fourth quarter.
The Gladiators won the face-off to open overtime, which was an area they dominated throughout the game. They won 18 of 24 draws overall, including all three in the dominating fourth quarter.
McCarthy admitted his team was on their heels.
"The fourth quarter — you've got to put quality shots on (Mt. Hebron goalie) Casey (DuBois). He's just that good," Glenelg coach Josh Hatmaker said. "I thought we were shooting the ball, and we had a real big shot by (Burford) to tie it up with a couple seconds left."
After a timeout, the Gladiators peppered shots toward goal, but few challenged DuBois on net.
"We just wanted to protect the crease and force outside shots. Fortunately, Casey saw some in overtime, but they missed the cage," McCarthy said.
Then, after possessing the ball the vast majority of the overtime period, the turnover proved costly for Glenelg (8-2, 9-4).
"We can't turn the ball over. We're bad at turning the ball over in big spots right now, and that's something we're working on and we're going through our growing pains," Hatmaker said. "But it's not easy ... Good teams like this, you can't do that."
The Gladiators scored only 12 seconds into the game after Noah Williamson won the face-off and took it all the way to the net. Sutton answered to tie the game – the first of seven – before Carson Marshall made it 2-1 in Glenelg's favor less than four minutes into the contest. The lead would be the last of the game for the Gladiators.
After Mt. Hebron (9-1, 12-1) built a 4-2 lead after one quarter, Glenelg scored the first two in the second quarter to tie the game at 4. The two teams traded the next seven goals before the Vikings would extend their 8-7 lead to 10-7 entering the fourth quarter.
"They answered every time. We jumped up one, they answered. We jumped up two, they answered, and that's just a testament to coach Hatmaker and his kids. They played hard and never quit," McCarthy said. "We knew going into the fourth up 10-7 that we needed to possess the ball, and they dominated time of possession. But our kids never quit either.
"Our kids are really tough-minded. They've worked really hard for this and have taken major steps in the last year. So we were ready for the challenge."
Mt. Hebron 11, Glenelg 10, OT
Goals: MH – Kyle Sutton 3, Anders Nilsson 2, Kyle Watts 2, Brian Demek 1, Bryce Brookhart 1, Scott Mackrell 1, Jake Edmonson 1; G – Tyler Nalls 2, Ryan Dry 2, Carson Marshall 2, Breyer Burford 1, Brett Wasson 1, Alex Frith 1, Noah Williamson 1
Assists: MH – Shane Brookhart 3, Demek 1, Sutton 1, Mackrell 1; G – Wasson 2, Burford 1, Marshall 1
Saves: MH – Casey DuBois 17; G – Daniel Hopkins 9
Halftime: 5-4, Mt. Hebron
Other scores:
Senior Scott Bruner scored seven goals to lead Howard to a 21-3 win over Reservoir. The win means the Lions clinch at least a share of the county title. A win over Long Reach on Friday and Howard will finish 11-0 in county for the second straight season.
Howard (10-0, 13-0) 21, Reservoir (4-6, 6-7) 3
Goals: Ho – Scott Bruner 7, Eric Schroeder 3, Cody Ford 3, Nolan Dunnigan 2, Ryan Land 1, Brad Zulick 1, Owen Gerus 1, Kendall Cooper 1, Peyton Smith 1, Cole Jarvis 1; Re – Matt Marsh 1, Drew Rutten 1, Max Zester 1
Assists: Ho – Alex Stephanos 2, Scroeder 2, Zulick 2, Land 2, Dunnigan 2, Smith 1, Ford 1; Re – Max Wike 1
Saves: Ho – Collin McClelland 2, Justin Overstreet 8; Re – Callan Weith 8
Halftime: 18-1, Howard
Marriotts Ridge (6-4, 9-4) 22, Atholton (5-5, 6-7) 9
Goals: MR – Patrick Clipp 4, Mak Kennedy 3, Grant Hanlon 3, Lewy Anania 3, Jack Gote 2, Troy Hensh 2, Kenyon Hendershot 1, Jake Polinsky 1, Sam McCoy 1, Chase McCottry 1, Casey Allwein 1; A – Evan Monthie 2, Kyle Brinker 1, Sam Smith 1, Joey Brewer 1, Talbott Gottwalls 1, Jason Pazulski 1, Randall Roman 1, Jordan Maddox 1
Assists: MR – Grote 4, Hendershot 4, Kennedy 2, Hanlon 2, Clipp 2; A – Smith 2, Gottwalls 2, Brewer 1, Roman 1
Saves: MR – Chris Simpson 1; A – Darren Kasoff 5, Hunter Brown 6
Halftime: 10-5, Marriotts Ridge
Wilde Lake (3-7, 4-9) 14, Oakland Mills (2-8, 3-8) 9
Goals: WL – Kevin Comeaux 4, Andrew Tiffey 4, Ryan Tiffey 3, Patrick Riley 3; OM – Jordan Snead 3, Evan Riss 3, Khaaliq Canada 2, Kenneth Wash 1
Assists: WL – R. Tiffey 3, A. Tiffey 2, Riley 1; OM – Riss 2, Austin Hughes 1, Jay Bhylet 1, Kholton Allen 1, Raul Argumedo 1
Saves: WL – Justin Allen 10; OM – Jesse Ketchum 9
Halftime: 6-4, Wilde Lake
John Carroll 13, Glenelg Country (1-6 MIAA B, 2-8) 12
Goals: GCS – Reid Chaconas 5, Cameron Martin 2, Wyatt Naylor 2, Riley Schmidt 2, Sean Escalante 1
Assists: GCS – Escalante 2, Martin 1, Naylor 1
Saves: GCS – BJ Borowski 14
River Hill (7-3, 7-4) 11, Long Reach (1-8, 2-9) 1
Centennial (4-5, 4-7) 20, Hammond (0-10, 0-11) 0