Nils Updale knows how to get the job done.
The junior faceoff specialist for the Central Bucks East boys lacrosse team was a force to be reckoned with in his team’s 9-8 victory over Pennridge in the opening round of the District One Class 3A tournament on Tuesday at First Lt. Colby Umbrell Field at Patriot Stadium.
Updale won 17 faceoffs for the day and was particularly hot in the second half, when his team needed the ball.
“That’s something I work on a lot,” said Updale, who also wrestles for CB East. “Almost every practice, I’m getting reps. While the other guys are working on passing, I’m working on this.
“Coming from a faceoff perspective I think all faceoffs are important, but when we have possession, 85-90% of the game it’s obviously very important. It’s an opportunity to score.
Pennridge played a lot better in the second half than they did in the first. I was getting nervous because sometimes our mojo dies out a little in the second half but at the X I was on the ball. I was ready to go.”
It took less than a minute for the scoring to begin, as Nick Knepp found the net for CB East with the first shot of the day just 53 seconds into the game.
After that things settled down, and for a while it looked like the first quarter would end with just that single tally. But with just over four minutes to go, Knepp took a ball from Jonah Osborne to give CB East a 2-0 lead.
Just like that, Pennridge came alive. Tom Hart put the Rams on the board and Chris Fanelli followed with a second goal, and the first quarter came to an end with the score knotted at 2-2.
The second quarter once again found the Patriots getting out of the gate quickly, as Osborne scored with an assist from Joey Stella. Stella then added a goal and Shane McEntire put one in to give CB East a 5-2 lead with six minutes remaining.
Jake Stranix scored a one-handed goal to put some life back into the Rams, but it was soon doused by McEntire’s second goal of the frame, sending the game into halftime with CB East ahead, 6-3.
The third quarter had a flurry of scoring in the final six and a half minutes, as Fanelli scored again for the Rams, followed by a goal by Mike Skulsky for CB East, and a Ryan Carickhoff goal for Pennridge, giving CB East a 7-5 lead as the teams headed into the final period.
It was Fanelli again, netting a goal in the first two minutes to bring the Rams to within one. Osborne took a pass from Stella to give CB East an 8-6 lead, but Frankie Fanelli of Pennridge scored and with 6:30 to go, the Patriots’ lead was once again just one goal, 8-7.
Luke Christmas scored what would prove to be the game-winner for CB East, picking up a ground ball and taking it in himself for the score.
Pennridge fought back hard and had chances. With 1:08 remaining, CB East was called on two 30-second penalties, giving the Rams a two-man advantage and they made it pay when Carickhoff scored with 53 seconds to go.
After that the Bucks’ defense dug in and held on for the win.
“It’s tough, especially since we know we can hang with them and we played well the whole game,” Chris Fanelli said. “A couple of mistakes and the ball didn’t fall our way. They played better, I guess. We didn’t take advantage of our man-up opportunities. They got a lot of ground balls and that didn’t help us.
“We started to click towards the end. We came out a little slow. If we could have come out stronger in the first half, we could have won it.
“In the final 30 seconds, we just wanted to get the ball down to one of our middies and get a shot off and we did. I got the ball to Tom (Hart) and he got a shot off, but they saved it, and that was the end. Their goalie (Ryan Kueny) made a nice save.
“We’ve come a long way as a team. From the beginning of the season there are a lot of games we wish we could have back, a lot of overtime games, this game, we want it back, but you can’t win them all. But we came pretty far.”
The two teams both hail from the Suburban One League National Conference. Luck of the draw had them play each other. CB East won the regular season contest, also by a score of 9-8.
“We played them in the regular season and it was close,” said Knepp, a junior who also plays soccer for the Patriots. “This is a crosstown rivalry so I knew it was going to be like this, plus we had our fans and they had their fans. It doesn’t get much better than this. It’s tough to play a team from your league in the first round, but that’s the way the draw broke.
“Our ride was excellent. They turned the ball over on our ride a lot. We got the ball back on missed passes, put in some good goals.
“We could definitely work on our offense. Our middies are all sophomore long poles that had to come over because we lost a lot of kids from last year so they had to learn. We have to work on just catching and throwing and moving fast.
“We were taking quality shots but we hit the post a lot. I know I did. It was unfortunate. You’ve just got to keep shooting.”
The Patriots (14-4), seeded 11th in the tourney, advance to Thursday’s second round, traveling to sixth seed Springfield (D) (13-4) at 7 p.m. The Cougars had an opening-round bye.
“I have confidence in our team,” Knepp said. “East has been to the playoffs many times, and taken on big, good teams, and gotten to states. With the athleticism we have, we may not be big, but with the speed we have, we should do fine. When we start playing at that high level, we play great.”
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