Yorktown Holds Off Lakeland/Panas to Win Murphy Cup

Petre, Marasco star as Somers edges Iona Prep; Darien's Brameier picks up his 400th career win.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Joe Lombardi
By
May 4, 2009, 12:00am
John Ranagan will never forget the feeling.

No matter how hard he may try.

It was two years ago and Ranagan and the Yorktown 'Huskers had just suffered a crushing 10-9 loss at Lakeland/Panas. It ended a string of 12 straight Yorktown wins in the Charlie Murphy Cup game.

"I wanted to make sure I never felt that way again," Ranagan said.

John Ranagan, Yorktown
John Ranagan, Yorktown
Photo By Jim Stout
On Saturday night, Ranagan made sure of it. He had five goals and one assist as the 'Huskers held on for an 11-8 win over the visiting Rebels before a crowd estimated at more than 2,000.

In many ways, this game followed what has become a familiar script.

Yorktown jumps out to an early lead, appears on the brink of putting its foot on the Rebels' throat — and then — somehow, someway, the Rebels come storming back.

Yorktown raced out to 3-0 and 4-1 leads. But back came the Rebels, pulling within 4-3 after the first quarter. After the 'Huskers outscored Lakeland/Panas 3-0 in the second quarter to go ahead 7-3 at the half, they seemed on their way to pulling away.

But  Rebels coach Jim Lindsay didn't think so.

"This game isn't over by any means," he said at halftime.

With Yorktown up 10-6 with just over eight minutes to go, it appeared it may be. But the 'Huskers received two bench penalties and within minutes it was a two-goal game. Ranagan then scored a key insurance goal with time winding down. He finished with five goals and an assist. Kevin Interlicchio had four goals.

Another player every bit as vital to the victory was Yorktown senior defenseman John Fennessy. The Towson-bound Fennessy, who earlier last week was among 44 seniors selected to play in the June 27 Under Armour all-America game (including teammate Ranagan), limited Binghamton-bound all-America attackman Jack Doherty of the Rebels to two assists. Shawn Honovich and James Bugeya each had two goals for the Rebels.

Yorktown coach Dave Marr later received his second bench penalty, resulting in his automatic ejection. He will have to sit out an automatic one-game suspension on Tuesday at Bronxville. It was the third time in the last three years Marr has been ejected from a game and the second time in the Murphy Cup.

This year's Cup nearly wound up being a 10-9 game for what would have been the third year in a row. Last year, after that narrow regular-season win, Yorktown went on to roll past the Rebels 17-5 in the sectional final.

Somers holds on to beat Iona Prep

Last year, the Iona Prep Gaels picked up groundbreaking wins over Lakeland/Panas and Somers.

This year, they were in position to do just that once again.

However, Iona Prep wound up losing to both teams by one goal after Saturday's 13-12 setback to visiting Somers (The Gaels fell to Lakeland/Panas 10-9 earlier this season).

Somers managed to beat the Gaels even though star attackman JoJo Marasco was held without a goal for the first time since who knows when. Credit the defense of Chris Jackson for that.

But Marasco, who has 181 career varsity goals, took what the defense gave him and had a season-high six assists. Junior attackman Greg Petre, who has quietly emerged as one of the premier players in the section, equaled a career-high with six goals. Petre has as hard and accurate shot as you'll find anywhere. Teammate Kieran Donohue scored three goals. Colin Tullgren  had two goals and one assist. Myles Gillespie and Nick Trizano each had five goals for the Gaels.

Somers junior goaltender Chris Longo, who has come up big against quality opponents this season (with two of his best games vs. Yorktown and John Jay), did so again, making 23 saves.

Darien's Brameier gets win No. 400

Darien 26th-year coach Jeff Brameier picked up his 400th career win last week as the Blue Wave won 12-4 at Fairfield Ludlowe. Andrew McCarthy had three goals and an assist and Tyler Foley had two goals and three assists for the Blue Wave. With the win, Brameier iimproved to 400-111 for his career (.783 winning percentage).

Joe Lombardi, who has been a fixture on the lacrosse scene during the sport’s rapid growth in the New York-Metropolitan area, produces editorial and video content for LaxLessons.com. He may be reached at joe@laxlessons.com.


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