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Sports

Boys Lacrosse Routs A.L. Johnson

Hilltoppers advance to 5-0 with 16-2 win.

SUMMIT–In a rematch of last year's UCT Championship, in which the Hilltoppers won the conference title with a 9-3 win, Summit once again defeated A.L. Johnson on Monday, this time by a score of 16-2.

Summit was on fire in the first quarter both offensively and defensively. Senior Danny Feeney won the opening face off and made a quick pass to Marcel Godino, who then found Michael Ford for the goal just eight seconds into the game. Feeney won the following face off and, this time, ran unmarked for several yards before scoring Summit's second goal of the game after just 41 seconds of play.

Three of the next four goals can be credited to Summit's aggressive defensive play, particularly that of Ryan Troy. In the first quarter, Troy forced two turnovers and intercepted a Crusader pass. These timely defensive plays resulted in Hilltopper goals by Terry McKenna, Feeney, and Godino.

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"In a lot of sports–in basketball, it's rebounds, in football, it's fumbles–in lacrosse, it's the middle of the field. It's basically like a jump ball every time, and you've got to get to those to score. Today, Ryan did a great job with that and we were able to capitalize," Summit head coach Jim Davidson said.

Hilltopper Jake Hall scored with 9.6 remaining in the first quarter to give his team a 7-0 lead. Davidson credits the early advantage to the team's hustle plays, particularly with ground ball and face off situations.

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"Johnson is young," Davidson said. "They played hard, and their coach does a good job there. Today it just seemed like we got a lot of ground balls and most face offs. When you do that, you have the ball most of the time and can control the tempo."

Summit continued to string together passes and capitalize on opportunities in the second quarter. Just one minute in, Ford made a pass across his shoulder to teammate Nick Kilkowski for the Hilltoppers' eighth goal of the game.

At the 8:28 mark, A.L. Johnson's Nick Villaverde put his team on the scoreboard with a low, bouncing shot. Just eight seconds later, however, the Hilltoppers struck again when Feeney won the face off and made a quick pass to Kilkowski, who then returned the earlier favor and fed Ford for the goal.

Another Summit goal by Nolan Prinzen, followed by Kilkowski's second goal of the game, gave the Hilltoppers an 11-1 advantage at halftime.

A.L. Johnson picked up their defensive intensity in the third quarter, and newcomer goalie George Bogner made an immediate impact with two early saves. Summit's Ford, however, was able to slip his fourth goal of the game past Bogner at the 7:58 mark. Shortly after, Tim Yager found the back of the net by evading several defenders. His goal gave Summit a 13-1 lead.

"They're always a good team, so this feels great," said Ford, who had a career-high four goals on the afternoon. "Coach said we'd have to play hard today and just come out and play within the system. It's always good to play well personally, but I'm just happy that we got the win."

A few minutes into the third, Pete Badgley came in for Summit's starting goalie, Brian Feeney. Badgley was instantly tested by Johnson's offense but made a quick reaction save with 5:30 remaining in the quarter. Summit's David Kalin scored on the counterattack to give his team a 14-1 advantage entering the game's final quarter.

A.L. Johnson was able to put one more point on the board when Gerard Ziobro scored with three minutes left in the game, but two more goals by Summit's Tommy Celmer and Paul Coviello closed the day for Summit with a 16-2 victory over the Crusaders.

"Today we had an opportunity to get everyone in the game, and it was just nice to see all of the kids running the offense and playing good defense," Davidson said. "We've got 36 guys on our roster who come to practice every day and work hard to make everyone around them better. It's rewarding to see everyone come out, give an effort, and do the things we implement in practice."

Summit (5-0) travels to West Morris Central this Saturday, April 17. Game time is 11 a.m.

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