The Ridge high school boys lacrosse team defeated Morristown, 8-7, in overtime in the semi-finals of the NJ State tournament at Ridge High on Saturday night. Ridge captain Kevin Kelly had 2 goals including the game winner in overtime.
1st
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2nd
3rd
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4th
OVERTIME
FINAL
MORRISTOWN (17-4)
3
2
1
1
0
7
RIDGE (14-6)
5
1
0
1
1
8
IN SHORT
The evening looked gloomy as storm clouds came in just prior to game time and for a brief moment, pelted the field with marble sized rain. As many of the fans cleared the stands, the players from both squads continued to warm up for the contest, set to determine who would play in the NJSIAA Group 3 Championship Wednesday at Watchung Hills. Moments after the rains came, a huge double rainbow extended from side to side of Lee Field as the referees were bringing the boys out to mid-field. Ridge's Kevin Kelly opened up the scoring for Ridge at the 10:25 mark with an assist from Eric Scott. About a minute later, Brian Begley of Morristown scored his first of three consecutive goals. Ridge rounded out the first quarter with four goals coming from Eric Scott, Jason Mertz, Connor Meth and JT Palladino. Mertz would add a another goal in the second period for Ridge, while Brad Hersh would add one for Morristown. Ridge would go on a 20 minute scoring drought while Morristown's Stephen DeLargy netted another in the third, bringing the contest to a 6-6 tie. As the end of regulation loomed, Jason Mertz fired an unassisted goal to break the tie with 3:52 to play, but Morristown's Stephen DeLargy would score his third consecutive unassisted goal, this one with 1:48 left, to knot it up at 7-7. Morristown had an opportunity late in regulation, but the Ridge defense held and the game was sent into overtime. The overtime period saw frantic play from both teams as they battled for loose and ground balls at midfield, but when Ridge got the ball and began to run a calculated play, Connor Meth found Kevin Kelly who found the back of the net.
KEY PERFORMANCES
Brian Begley - Freshman Begley scored the first of three goals for Morristown; Stephen DeLargy - DeLargy scored the final three goals for the Colonials.
COACH'S TAKE
"Being there till the very end, this is where we belong. Hopefully we will be able to take the next step. No excuses. Ridge is a very good team. You do not see too many high school teams that can cut and feed the way they do...and they've got some really good players. And they are very well coached. This senior class brought more wins to Morristown than ever before and they can hang their hats on that. Morristown lacrosse is still building, this will not be the last time we will be in this game. I can't say enough about how proud I am of these guys and the effort they put into this season." - Morristown head coach Jeff Bigas
