Timberlane boys lacrosse beats Hollis Brookline to reach D2 semis for 1st time (video)

PLAISTOW - Going into halftime Saturday, Ken Blaszka hoped his Timberlane Regional High School boys lacrosse team hadn't missed out on an opportunity.

Already up two in the final moments of the first half, the Owls came close to making it a three-goal game , and against a Hollis Brookline team that was averaging just under 15 goals per game, they might have needed it.

It turned out, Timberlane didn't.

The Owls carried the momentum into the third quarter, making it an 8-0 run overall and the defense silenced any chance of a comeback by the Cavaliers as Timberlane picked up a 14-9 win in the Division II quarterfinals. The win puts the Owls in the semifinals for the first time in program history, as they will head to Kingswood, which defeated Hanover in another quarterfinal, for a 5 p.m. start on Wednesday.

"They were pretty fired up," Blaszka said. "It was intensity, start to finish. We traded a bunch of shots, we traded a bunch of punches. We went up by a little bit, they went up by a little bit. We went on a bit of a run. We were able to sustain that two-goal lead going into the half, but it was good to see us come out in the third and just dominate the quarter."

Down 6-4 early in the second quarter, Timberlane (10-7, ARV in the NHHSS Coaches Poll) went on a 4-0 run to end the first half up 8-6.

A turnover by the Cavaliers in the final 20 seconds almost led to another goal by the Owls, but they were able to hang on to momentum, despite losing 19 of 22 faceoffs. Two of the Owls' wins came in the third quarter to help them continue the run, adding on another four goals to make 12-6.

Eric George led the Owls with seven goals, including a behind-the-back score with 4:59 remaining in the third that capped off the 8-0 run. Braidon Bowman added three goals and an assist and Ethan Gerry had two goals and two helpers while Cam Noyes had a goal and two assists.

Nicholas Matthews also scored for Timberlane and Ryan Freeman netted an assist while Brady Marston led the defense, making 19 saves. The Owls not only held the Cavs below their season average in goals (14.7), but it was the first all year HB scored fewer than 10.

"We have a great goaltender and we have a great defense, with Billy (Savage) and Joe (Shivell) and the whole crew," Blaszka said. "Seeing Brady (Marston) step up in the second half was absolutely phenomenal. We were ready and prepared to start switching. We had a tough a time with a couple of things we saw. We made a couple of adjustments."

HB (13-2, T-No. 10) got four goals from Jake Roy while Joe O'Reilly had two goals and an assist. Hunter Hudzik, Ben Dufoe and Andrew Torgorsen also had goals for the Cavs while Scott Walsh made six saves.

"Timberlane did a really good job of throwing some different stuff at us," HB coach Dom St. Laurent said. "We had to try to handle it and made adjustments at halftime and played hard.

"I figured if we got a couple on them early, they’d try to shut off one or two of our guys. They’d try to put short sticks on guys who don’t initiate as much for us and make them try to beat them. They did that. Their goalie stood on his head for them and made some great saves, especially in the second half when we were making a little bit of a push."

The Cavs ended the Owls' run Hudzik's goal with 1:59 remaining in the third quarter and Dufoe scored just under two minutes into the fourth to make it 12-8. Marston came up with a save moments later on HB, but the rebound went right to O'Reilly, who buried to to make it a three-goal game with 8:47 to play.

HB won the ensuing faceoff, but turned the ball over, and Timberlane was able to run some time off the clock. The Cavs got the ball back, but ended up turning it over again, setting up a goal by Bowman that made it 13-9 with 5:10 to play.

Bowman added another goal when his bounce shot came off the ground high and awkward, as the ball eluded Walsh and bounced just over the goal line with 3:44 to play.

"They had a tough time covering every one of our guys and we knew that," Blaszka said. "We can roll out guys. We’re playing eight guys (on offense). Everyone has a spot and everyone has a role. That’s one of the things we preach. If you’re on our sideline, you’re in the game."