Timberlane boys lacrosse comes back in 4th quarter to beat Derryfield (video)

MANCHESTER - The Timberlane Regional High School boys lacrosse team needed to get back up the ladder.

After getting to the top of it in the first half, leading by as many as four goals, the Owls fell off in the third quarter, when a three-goal halftime lead against Derryfield turned into a three-goal deficit.

Ethan Gerry got Timberlane climbing, scoring two of his five goals to open the fourth quarter, and Eric George and Braiden Bowman scored the tying and winning goals, respectively, as the Owls knocked off the Cougars 10-9 in a Division II contest.

Derryfield had a couple of chances to tie the game in the final minutes, but Timberlane's Gary Shivell came up with a pair big defensive play and the Owls were able to hang on for the win.

"We’ve got guys banged up, nicked up, dinged up," Timberlane coach Ken Blaszka said. "You’ve got to get out there. You talk about resolve and the gumption just to get stuff done, so when it comes down to it, you’re name is called, it’s your responsibility to know what you’re doing. It was great to watch them just fight and battle."

Leading the way was Gerry, who had two goals in the first quarter to get the Owls (5-0, No. 8 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) into a 2-2 tie after one, and following a 6-0 run by Derryfield in the third, scored twice in the first 4:12 of the fourth to give Timberlane momentum.

"With every goal, our intensity builds," Gerry said. "It’s kind of like a ladder. You climb up and you leave yourself up there, and that’s when we had that big lead going into halftime. We just left ourselves up there. I got that dumb penalty (at the start of the half) to give them a little momentum and they built off that. We were lucky enough to catch some momentum and get us up there again."

George and Bowman added two goals each for Timberlane, with Bowman's game winner coming with 3:57 left on the clock. Austin Charest also had a goal and Brady Marston made nine saves, six of which came in the first half when the Owls were building a 6-2 lead.

"He had a great first half," Blaszka said of Martson. "Third quarter was rough because they created some space. They got their shooters time and room and we didn’t rotate fast enough. They stuck a couple on him. He brings so much to us just in the clearing game alone."

Derryfield (3-1, No. 5) got three goals from Tate Flint while Quinn Silvio had two goals and an assist and Chili Cabot had two goals. Alex Murray dished out three assists while RJ Proulx and Ethan Flannagan also scored. Parker Lebiedz made 12 saves for the Cougars.

"Started off really well," Derryfield coach Chris Hettler said. "We were pushing transition. Pace was fast at first, and I think our guys tried to play too fast at first. Timberlane took advantage of some things. They were really physical."

It was a 2-1 lead for Derryfield on Flint's first goal with 6:30 left in the first quarter, but Gerry tied it with 1:32 to go before the second. Momentum seemed to start to shift early in the quarter and completely swung when a failed clear by Lebiedz turned into a goal by George to give Timberlane the lead.

The Cougars looked to tie it back up right away, but Marston made three straight stops and the Owls went the other way. Charest made it 4-2 with 8:24 left in the half, the first of three goals in a span of 2:36 that made it 6-2.

Cabot got one goal back before halftime for Derryfield, but momentum swung again on the opening faceoff of the third. Gerry drew a flag for a slash, and the Cougars got a goal from Proulx before the penalty was called and then added another, from Silvio, on the manup to make it 6-5 just 1:38 into the half.

Another goal from Cabot tied the game less than a minute later and Flint made it a 4-0 run in 2:59, giving Derryfield a 7-6 lead. Flint scored his third of the game midway through the third and Silvio made it 9-6 in the final minute of the quarter.

"We settled down in the third quarter, but we really didn’t get the 50-50s we needed in the fourth quarter to get some possessions," Hettler said. "I feel like if we had been able to get possessions, it would have made a difference. They made shots in the fourth quarter and didn’t give us a chance to get possessions."

After winning 14 of 18 faceoffs through three quarters, the teams were even in the fourth and the Cougars turned the ball over eight times, getting just one shot off in the quarter.

Gerry got the Owls going with a goal just 1:56 into the fourth, and after Timberlane took a time, he made it a one-goal game with 7:48 to play. George tied the game with 6:18 to play and the Owls won the ensuing faceoff, setting up Bowman's game-winner.

"That’s the game," Blaszka said. "Goals are like bananas, they come in bunches. You’ve got to have runs, you’ve got to sustain runs, and you’ve got to have the gumption to prevent the runs. Then you also have to have the heart to keep fighting."

Derryfield won the faceoff after Bowman's goal, but Shivell forced the ball out and scooped up the groundball to get Timberlane out in transition. Lebiedz made a save at the other end and the Owls were called for a crease violation, giving the Cougars the ball.

But after a timeout, Shivell deflected a pass and got the groundball again, and Timberlane took a timeout with 1:37 remaining. The Owls turned it over moments later and Gerry was called for a slash with 37.8 seconds remaining, but the Cougars were unable to get a shot off before losing possession.

"They played fast and they played aggressive," Hettler said. "They forced us into some situations that we didn’t react as well to. We didn’t make good decisions. And then there were little things that didn’t bounce the right way. We needed to get a groundball or we needed to get a clear, and we didn’t do it.

"We expended a lot of energy in that come back and we needed possessions, and we just didn’t get it. Timberlane kept the pedal down. For them not to fall apart and be able to continue to play like that was great."