Clark, rotating midfielders lead Springfield to title over Garnet Valley

CONCORD — The championship plan, as it has developed for Springfield boys lacrosse this postseason, has a few elements.

Stellar defense, that hallmark of the program, is an obvious one. A marauding Jack Clark, that’s become more of a given by the game. But Thursday, the under-the-radar third aspect of that Cougar trident showed up just as prominently.

All season, coach Tom Lemieux has liberally rotated his midfielders, looking for the right combinations. Lately, it seems like he can hardly find any wrong ones.

Those contributions were at the heart of Thursday’s District 1 Class 3A final win over Garnet Valley, 12-7. As much as Clark held down the shop with his usual output of four goals and an assist, the way others stepped to the fore made the difference, from three goals from Robbie O’Brien to two fourth-quarter tallies from Matt Dickinson.

O’Brien’s goals ran the gamut. He ripped home a 20-yarder in the second quarter off a Brett Gougler helper to put the Cougars (17-5) up 5-2 at the break. The next two were of the grimier variety, a wayward pass that he tipped home like a hockey goal and another in the fourth that caromed through traffic and just dribbled over the line.

“We take whatever we get,” O’Brien said. “They all went in. … It all goes up on the board.”

It was enough. Timely, too. The second-seeded Jaguars (17-5) scored first in each quarter but could never sustain momentum. Certainly nothing like the run of four goals that Springfield rattled off in 1:34 in the first quarter, a cushion which they never were in serious trouble of relinquishing. The Jaguars also didn’t come close to replicating the explosive offense on display in a 13-8 win over the Cougars in April.

Clark was at the heart of that first-quarter run with three goals around a Gougler tally. But others stepped up as the game went on. Aidan Kreydt bombed one home in the third, then Jimmy Kennedy fired home man-up for a 9-3 edge. Dickinson added his two in the fourth, the last a backhander after splitting a double team while falling away from the goal with 2:23 to play to seal it.

Garnet Valley had threatened to make things interesting. But each time the Jags tried to get momentum, they were stymied. That owed in part to Springfield’s Colin Hannigan starving them of possession with a 16-for-22 game at the X and the constant hounding by a defense led by long-stick midfielder Ryan O’Connor.

“We wanted to not give them any room on the offensive side of the ball, keep to hands and just keep them to the outside,” O’Connor said. “It helped out in the end.”

The Jaguars went on a brief run in the fourth. Max Busenkell, who led the way with three goals and an assist, tallied 90 seconds apart around a Dickinson goal. He then found Ryan Nelaon after drawing a triple team, then Joey Halloran scored man-up to trim the deficit to 10-7.

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