Timberlane comes together to beat Hollis Brookline in D2 boys lacrosse prelims (video)

PLAISTOW - The Timberlane Regional High School boys lacrosse team spent all week preparing for Thursday's playoff game against Hollis Brookline.

The fourth-seeded Owls broke down the things they needed to do be aware of to face the No. 13 Cavaliers for the second time in 16 days, but the biggest thing might have been getting everyone on the same page.

Whatever it was the players and coaches did worked, as Timberlane built up a four-goal lead in the second quarter, withstood an HB run in the third and pulled away late for a 15-7 win in the Division II preliminary round. The Owls move on to the quarterfinals, where they will host No. 5 St. Thomas at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

"I talked about one goal, one team, everybody playing a part, everybody rowing the boat, everybody working together," Timberlane coach Ken Blaszka said. "We prepped everything. Swallowing pride and doing what we needed to do. We were pretty intense from the get-go. The first time we played them, they kind of beat us up a bit. This time we won the physical battle."

Ethan Gerry led the Owls (13-4, No. 9 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) with six goals and an assist and Braidon Bowman had five goals and an assist. The pair scored all six of Timberlane's goals in the first half, as the Owls built a 6-2 lead.

Eric George added four goals, all in the second half, and Jack Condon had four assists while Brady Marston made 11 saves. A couple of those stops came early in the game, when HB could have gone in front, and there were a few early in the fourth quarter, with the Cavs (6-11) trying to make a comeback.

Timberlane scored twice in the first 1:07 of the third quarter to take an 8-2 lead, but HB responded with a 4-0 run, with Connor Pinault-Cook scoring all three of his goals during that stretch.

But two goals was as close as HB would get on the rest of the way.

"It’s a game of runs," HB coach Dom St. Laurent said. "You’re going to score some, they’re going to score some. You’re going to make some stops, they’re going to make some stops.

"For a while, I felt like we did a good job capitalizing on the scramble transition situations, when the ball is turned over in the ride game. I thought that was a good point for us, the ride game was causing them some fits. We capitalized, but they took advantage of some lapses that we had."

Jacob Roy added two goals for HB while Andrew Torgerson and Colin Corban also had a goal apiece.

Torgerson's goal came with 5.3 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game 2-2, but any momentum the Cavs might have picked up was erased when Gerry scored 27 seconds into the second. Bowman added another goal off the ride two minutes later to make it 4-2, and the duo would score another goal apiece before halftime.

A holding call against HB's Colin McGarry - who came back from a leg injury to play in his first game of the season - gave Timberlane a manup opportunity to start the second half. Bowman capitalized 20 seconds into the half and Gerry added another goal 47 seconds later to make it 8-2.

But HB battled back, as Pinault-Cook scored twice in a two-minute span, off assists from McGarry and Ben Dufoe, to make it 8-4 with 6:45 left in the third. Roy added another goal, and after a faceoff win by Justin Colby, who was 21 of 24 on the day, Pinault-Cook scored again just 31 seconds later.

After the goal, however, Roy was penalized for conduct and George scored on the manup to end the Cavs' run. Gerry added another goal before the end of the quarter to give Timberlane a 10-6 lead.

"We churn a lot and everyone plays a part," Blaszka said of getting all three of his attackman involved. "Sometimes where we started isn’t where we’re going to finish. We’ve been like that most of the year. It was great to see it (Thursday). We’ve had it at points, and then it’s faltered, all because of injuries. When we’re thin in certain spots, just because we have three solid attack, there are things that occur around them, making things happen."

HB controlled possession for the opening of the fourth quarter, but it wasn't until Roy scored with 9:06 left that the Cavs were able to break through, making it 10-7.

But that was the last time HB would beat Marston and the Owls were able to take advantage of the Cavs' attempts to cut into the lead.

"(Marston) had a couple of nice ones in the beginning here that were quick and fast," Blaszka said. "His command, you’ve got to get something good on him. He calms me down. It affected their game. You saw in the fourth quarter, they were not trying to take those shots. You pull away eventually, like you just keep punching, you wear them down."