The Boys' Latin lacrosse team made it known early against visiting Loyola Blakefield that it didn't want the season to end.
And through all four quarters of Friday's Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference quarterfinal, that determination showed.
The No. 1 Lakers dominated faceoffs, played well on defense and were equally efficient on attack in coming away with a 12-7 win over the No. 2 Dons.
Boys' Latin (14-4) will meet No. 3 McDonogh (13-4) in Tuesday's semifinals at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field. The Lakers came away with an 11-8 win over the top-seeded Eagles in their April 10 regular-season meeting.
Before an overflow crowd at J. Duncan Smith Field, Patrick Spencer led the attack with four goals and two assists; Charley Hughes and Jake Gatz combined to win 19 of 23 faceoffs; and goalie Jack Pezzulla made 12 saves, with his defense helping to deny the Dons (9-5) opportunities close to goal.
It was the final home game for 36th-year coach Bob Shriver, whose overall record improved to 507-139. Always humble about his accomplishments, Shriver gave a thumbs-up to the student section as it chanted, "Thank you, Shri-ver!" after the final whistle blew.
Besides a couple poor clears early in the game, he couldn't have asked for a more complete effort. After praising each facet of his team, starting with Hughes and Gatz at the faceoff X, he said: "I'd be lying to tell you that it's not thrilling to keep on playing; it's awesome."
The Dons came into the game having lost their last three regular-season games, falling from first place to a road game in the quarterfinals. The Lakers saw a vulnerable team and pounced.
They scored the game's first three goals and led 5-1 after the first quarter. The Dons twice got within three goals in the third quarter, but the Lakers' faceoff work, coupled with some timely saves from Pezzulla, kept them from making the run they needed to get any closer. The Lakers were up 8-5 going into the fourth quarter when goals from Greg Ey and Devin Shewell put the game away.
"First off, I want give it up to our faceoff guys: They gave us a ton of possessions, and without that, we couldn't have done what we did at the offensive end," Spencer said.
"I thought our defensive played really well; holding that team to seven goals is really unheard of with the amount of weapons they have. And on the offensive end, I thought we did well. We moved the ball and we were able to capitalize on a few of the opportunities we got and pulled through."
Logan Wisnauskas added three goals and an assist, and Shewell had two goals and an assist for Boys' Latin. Loyola got two goals and two assists from Cole Williams, and Ryan Conrad closed out his stellar three-sport career with two goals and an assist. The nation's No. 1 senior recruit in lacrosse — and a standout in basketball and soccer — he leaves Loyola with 12 varsity letters and three league championships (two in soccer, one in lacrosse).
Just two weeks ago, the Dons looked primed to make a strong run at their second league title in three years. They were 6-0 in league play, two games ahead of the pack with three games left. But losses to St. Mary's, Boys' Latin and Calvert Hall put them in a tailspin from which they couldn't recover.
"BL came out to play. We let them get three in a row on us, and we can't come out that slow," Conrad said.
"I know, on the sideline, we weren't totally down on ourselves. We were trying to get everybody going. But it was tough; they just kept racking them on, kept getting faceoffs, and we just couldn't get it back."
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