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By KELLY FENTON Sports editor
WASHINGTON TWP. – For all but about three minutes during the North 2, Group 3 boys lacrosse championship at Ridgewood on Saturday evening, West Morris Central played respectable, sometimes outstanding, defense.
But playing without one of its top scorers against the seventh-ranked team that came in allowing just six goals a game, the Wolfpack needed to be nearly perfect. And allowing a goal with six seconds left in the first period and three goals over a one-minute span in the final two minutes of the second period turned out to be the tremors that triggered the avalanche in Ridgewood’s 9-0 victory.
“They kind of had a couple of flurries there,” said West Morris head coach Rob Goodwin, whose team concluded a 12-11 season after winning six of its final eight games. “We aren’t very big and I think we were a little tentative at times against their bigger players.”
Cooper Telesco was a case in point. The 6-0, 190-pound attack pretty much willed his way through two Wolfpack defenders to score three-and-a-half minutes into the game, then added a deflating goal in much the same manner with only six seconds left in the first to make it 2-0.
Still, the Wolfpack were right in it after Joe Reilly made three tough saves in a row over a one-minute span midway through the second period. West Morris trailed only 2-0 with two minutes left in the half and an underdog hanging tough can put pressure on a favorite.
But the Maroons broke through with 1:41 left, then scored 10 seconds later after winning the ensuing faceoff. They added one more goal with 36 seconds left and whatever hopes West Morris might have carried into intermission were seriously dampened after falling behind 5-0.
Making that score all the more ominous was the fact that the Wolfpack managed to get off only a couple of shots on goal the entire half. Twice, Cooper Sloan made a nifty move around the right post and tried to quickly scoop an underhand by Ridgewood goalie Chris Cerrina.
