Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/26/12
Staff Report
Sophomore Troy Reeder had four goals and an assist and Jason Kelly scored three goals as Salesianum School blitzed Caesar Rodney, 13-2, today to win its second straight Delaware boys’ state championship at Dover High.
The Sals (16-3) were the No. 3 seed due to a point system that did not reward them for playing several out-of-state national powers, such as Calvert Hall (Md.) and Chatham (N.J.) and Penn Charter and Malvern Prep of the Inter-Ac League. Caesar Rodney (17-2) was the top seed after winning 17 straight games since an opening-day, 12-5 loss to Salesianum.
In today’s title game, the Sals outshot CR by an amazing 16-1 in the first period, but led only 1-1. The Riders tied it early in the second period on a transition goal by Hunter Schaefer, but the Sals then ran off six unanswered goals to take a 7-1 halftime lead.
“I think we really earned it today,” said Reeder. “We came in as the third seed and we knew we were deserving of being the first seed. It’s the way the points system works. But it gave us something to prove and fueled our tank. We took it to them and did what we did all year and got the state championship.”
Added Sals coach Bobby Healy: “We came here to play in their backyard field, just two minutes away. We had to drive an hour and a half in Memorial Day weekend traffic. The kids used that fiel to throw off their fire. We took care of business. It was intense.
“Our defense was just suffocating. They had seven shots the whole game.”
The lead was 10-1 after three periods as Salesianum finished with a 35-7 advantage in shots while winning 12 out of 17 face-offs thanks to great work at the X by Kyle Gangemi.
Also for Salesianum, Dillon Walker had two goals and an assist and Graham Seuffert scored twice while Sean Giampietro and Craig Zebrowski each had a goal and two assists. Matt Barone made four saves for the win.
Salesianum won its fourth state title under Healy – others came last year, in 2007 and 2009.
“This was a very young team that was motivated to try to do something we’ve never done before – go back-to-back,” said Healy. “Our schedule strength really prepared us for today’s game. We’ve been through a lot this year, without a doubt. We had a win over Chatham and we played Penn Charter tough and played Calvert Hall tough for three quarters.
“We struggled against Malvern Prep, but those games really helped us prepare for this.”
Added Reeder: “We continue to step up our schedule and play better teams to try to show the entire country that we’re a nationally ranked team.
“We were ready for a big game, a championship game because we played in big games all year. Coach prepared us for this moment and we seized the opportunity.”
Salesianum 13, Caesar Rodney 2
Salesianum 1-6-3-3 – 13
Caesar Rodney 0-1-0-1 – 2
Salesianum School
Troy Reeder 4g, 1a
Jason Kelly 3g
Dillon Walker 2g, 1a
Graham Seuffert 2g
Sean Giampietro 1g, 2a
Craig Zebrowski 1g, 2a
Kyle Gangemi 1a, 12 of 17 FO
Matt Barone 4 saves
Caesar Rodney
Hunter Schaefer 1g
Ryne Johnson 1g
Justin Dolby 1a
John Michael Smith 16 saves
