It was just eight days ago that Glenelg boys lacrosse knocked off Marriotts Ridge to hand the Mustangs their fourth straight defeat.
Oh, how the tables have turned.
Behind a hot freshman goalie Colin Kelley, who stopped 10 shots, and three first-half goals from junior Lewy Anania, Marriotts Ridge got the last laugh Wednesday night and upset the host Gladiators, 7-5, for the first time since 2009 to advance to the second round of the 3A/2A South Region playoffs.
"It's survive and advance," said Mustangs coach Tony Incontrera. "The kids knew that we've been on the brink all season. ... We had to do things we haven't done all year and the kids adjusted and embraced it."
Right from the start Marriotts Ridge (6-9) came out in a zone defensively. Incontrera said that's the first time in at least four years he implemented it in a game, but it worked to perfection and created havoc for Glenelg's offense.
"That's a (gutsy) move for Tony because I know he hates zones," said Gladiators coach Josh Hatmaker. "We prepared for a zone as we do for every game and I thought we had looks. We didn't bury very many and their goalie played great. He's young, but I always say young and talented is still talented."
Part of the reason Incontrera played zone was because he was missing two starting defensemen – including junior Ben Ellrich – and his regular face-off man. Kelley, though, stepped up to play his best game of the season.
"He was seeing the ball great today," Incontrera said. "Over the past four or five games he hasn't been playing like a freshman and he's been stepping up and playing like a junior or senior which is what we need him to do, especially if we want to make a run. ... He played out of his mind. That's about as well as I've seen a goalie play in some time."
Kelley deflected the credit to his defensemen in front of him.
"I think I had a lot of help from my defense, especially Bladen (Miller), Casey (Allwein) and Mason (Pung), who stepped up with some guys out with injuries," said Kelley, who stopped five shots in a second quarter alone. "My defense was really crucial in helping me. ... I was hoping to step up because it's the playoffs."
Brett Wasson scored the first goal of the game for the Gladiators (6-9), who had five different goal-scorers, but Anania and his offensive teammates soon picked up steam. Anania scored back-to-back goals to give Marriotts Ridge a 2-1 lead, one it wouldn't relinquish. Jake Polinsky followed with a tally to close out the first quarter.
Anania finished his hat trick with 8 minutes, 15 seconds still left in the first half, and Troy Hensh's goal about four minutes later pushed the Mustangs advantage to 5-1 at the break. Glenelg led 6-1 at the half in the first meeting on May 3.
"When Lewy runs hard he's a tough cover," Incontrera said. "In the first half he was getting steps on his guy and we were doing a good job at freeing him up. Lewy is a very good on the run shooter so once we get him moving he got his hands free and was letting it go."
Chase Collier and Breyer Burford opened the third quarter with a goal apiece for Glenelg, cutting the deficit to 5-3, but Marriotts Ridge started to slow the pace of the game down. The Gladiators had a chance to cut it to one on a fast break but the shot rang off the crossbar. The Mustangs answered with a long, drawn-out possession that ended with Luke Ingersoll finding the back of the net with a minute left in the third quarter.
"We came out and had some good looks and then hit a pipe," Hatmaker said. "That's big because it goes back the other way and then they got a goal out of that."
Hensh netted his second of the game to kick off the scoring in the fourth quarter. Marriotts Ridge wasn't too interested in scoring from that point on up 7-3. Glenelg rallied late, scoring two goals 50 seconds apart in the final 1:14, but it was too little too late.
"We can talk about all the talent in the world that we've got coming but those seniors, I feel terrible for them. I feel personally responsible. It's just tough," Hatmaker said. "It's a good group of kids who care about each other and you hate to see what they had dreamed up all year long kind of done after the first night of the playoffs."
The win snaps a five-game losing streak for the Mustangs. Incontrera said while his team had that in their minds entering the win-or-lose games of the postseason, they knew they had to let it loose in order to accomplish their goals.
"The kids have nothing to lose at this point. Nobody expected much of them," he said. "We have a nice strong history for our boys lacrosse program, but it's a new crew every year. We wanted them to embrace the opportunity they had."
Marriotts Ridge will host Reservoir, which beat Oakland Mills, 9-4, on Friday.
Marriotts Ridge (6-9) – 7, Glenelg (6-9) – 5
Goals: MR – Lewy Anania 3, Troy Hensh 2, Luke Ingersoll, Jake Polinsky; G – Brett Wasson, Chase Collier, Breyer Burford, Kevin Wynne, Jeremy Rigali
Assists: MR – Peter Geier; G – Carson Marshall 3
Saves: MR – Colin Kelley 10; G – Anthony Valenza 5
Halftime: 5-1, Marriotts Ridge
Other scores:
Reservoir (7-8) – 9, Oakland Mills (8-7) – 4
Goals: Re – Tyler Reiff 3, Zack Romer 2, Jessie Eckstrom, Jake Carson, Patrick Raymond, Campbell; OM – Jack Schurman, Nick Miller, Evan Riss, J. Ware
Assists: Re – Eckstrom, Carson, Romer; OM – Riss 2
Saves: Re – Callan Weith 8; OM – Andy Osiander 10
Halftime: 4-3, Reservoir
Wilde Lake (8-7) – 14, Hammond (3-10) – 13 (OT)
Goals: WL – Ryan Tiffey 12, Patrick Riley 2
Assists: WL – Andrew Tiffey 4, Riley 4, Kevin Comeaux 4, Jackson Pittman
Saves: WL – Daniel Joseph 10
Halftime: 7-6, Hammond
Winters Mill – 11, Centennial (6-9) – 10
Northeast – 12, Atholton (8-7) – 10
Chesapeake-AA – 21, Long Reach (0-12) – 1
Tuesday's result:
John Carroll – 15, Glenelg Country (6-2 MIAA B, 6-6) – 5
Goals: GCS – Wyatt Naylor 3, Reid Chaconas, Sean Escalante
Assists: GCS – Riley Schmidt
Saves: GCS – BJ Borowski 16
Halftime: 7-4, John Carroll