Region Champs!

It did not take long for the Madison Boys’ Lacrosse team to find the goal in last Wednesday’s region quarterfinal game against Stonewall Jackson. John Hollingsworth opened the scoring with two early goals in the first quarter. After Hollingsworth set the stage, several Warhawks followed to jump out to an 11-0 halftime lead over the visiting Raiders. The comfortable lead gave first year head coach Aaron Solomon some flexibility to make substitutions from his deep and talented roster. On the defensive side of the ball, Johnny Almanza, Justin Woods, Tyler Paul, Lucas Kohler and Daniel Jacobs (a call up from the junior varsity squad for the playoffs) continued to confuse, frustrate and stall any offensive momentum from the Raiders with several caused turnovers by Madison’s suffocating defense. This led to four more goals in the second half for the Warhawks, including scores from Arjun Sahni, Brendan Wyka, and Chase Browning who was assisted by LSM Wolfie Gottschalk. In the end, Madison would win easily by a score of 15-5 setting up the region semifinal match against the Bobcats from Battlefield.

The Bobcats beat the Warhawks, 8-6, on a neutral field earlier in the season during the spring break tournament at Robinson High School. This time, however, with Madison having the number one seed in the tournament, the Warhawks enjoyed home field advantage in the friendly confines of Bradford Stadium. After Battlefield won the opening faceoff, the Warhawks defense immediately put the clamps down as Joey Jorgenson caused a turnover, scooped up the ground ball and raced for midfield where he found Zach Hanzlik in the front of the crease for the first goal of the game. Michael Leone, Madison’s assist leader, found Timmy Palmer sixty seconds later for a goal and within a minute, another caused turnover by David Hibbs on defense and the ensuing goal put Madison up 3-0 at 8:55 mark of the first quarter. Madison’s stifling defense, aided by deep pole play by Jorgenson, Kevin Lyons and Sam Nunez, did not allow Battlefield a shot on goal until the 4:11 mark of the opening quarter. Bard Sullenger and John Hollingsworth would add unassisted goals to put Madison up 5-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Warhawks would retain the big lead throughout the half and by the end of the third quarter, Madison was up 11-3 with goals added by Leone, Patrick Ruffolo, and Brendan Wyka. In addition to the offensive surge and defensive effort, Madison dominated time of possession due in large part to Cole DeFreitas winning 74% of face-off chances. Hanzlik and Ethan Doptis, with an assist from Casey Joseph, would score late in the game for a 13-6 win, putting Madison in the Region Championship game against the Patriot Pioneers.

In the first match up between Patriot and Madison in early March, the Pioneers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game and handed the Warhawks a 9-6 opening day defeat. This game started no different as the Warhawks found themselves down 2-0 after nearly four minutes of play in the title game. But senior John Hollingsworth gave the Warhawks the spark they needed at the 8:20 mark landing an unassisted goal to close the lead within one at 2-1. Perhaps best sorted out by a timeline of events, the back and forth affair proved for an epic showdown between the top two teams in the region.

First Quarter:

• Pioneers open the scoring with two quick goals: Patriot leads 2-0
• Hollingworth scores an unassisted goal from the X position: Patriot leads 2-1
• Pioneers score at 8:00 mark: Patriot leads 3-1
• Josh Rhodes comes into game off a substitution and after fake pass scores: Patriot leads 3-2
• At 3:15 Brendan Wyka feeds Hanzlik for a 15 yard rocket shot to the back of net: Tie 3-3
• Hollingsworth scores at 3:05 for his second goal of game: Madison leads 4-3
• Patriot scores at 1:39 to tie game: Tie 4-4
• Ruffolo feeds Timmy Palmer in closing seconds of quarter: Madison leads 5-4
• Following Cole DeFreitas face off win Wyka feeds Ruffolo at the buzzer: Madison leads 6-4

Second Quarter:

• Patriot outscored Madison 3-0 to take a 7-6 lead into halftime

Third Quarter:

• Leone ties game early with heads up play that bounces off Patriot player: Tie 7-7
• Patriot scores to take lead: Patriot leads 8-7
• DeFreitas wins face-off outright and feeds Ruffolo for another goal: Tie 8-8
• Halfway through period, Patriot scores again: Patriot leads 9-8
• Following another De Freitas face off win, Ruffolo assists Hanzlik: Tie at 9-9
• Patriot scores next two goals to take lead: Patriot leads 11-9
• Palmer weaves his way through defense scoring while falling to the ground with .2 to play: Patriot leads 11-10

Fourth Quarter:

• Hollingsworth ties game at 9:30 mark: Tie 11-11
• Palmer follows up with his third goal of the game : Madison leads 12-11
• Patriot ties the game at the 4:33 mark in the fourth: Tie 12-12
• Leone comes back immediately with goal at 3:51: Madison leads 13-12
• Patriot answers the call with a goal with 90 seconds to go: Tie 13-13

After Patriot secured the face off win, the Pioneers worked the ball around for the next forty-five seconds before Coach Dan Puhlick called a timeout with forty-five seconds to play to set up for the game winning shot. On the hot, steamy, Northern Virginia spring evening, players from both teams showed signs of fatigue. For the previous 47 minutes, both teams showed grit, resiliency, talent, and determination. With water bottles strewn across both sidelines and wet towels around the players’ necks, both teams were looking for that last gasp of energy to secure a region title for their school.

As both teams took the field, and the ref blew the whistle Patriot whipped the ball around the midfield with their trademark crisp and accurate passing. As the clock clicked down; chants of “WARHAWKS” and “DEFENSE” from Warhawk Nation were echoing throughout the stadium. Then, with fifteen seconds to play, Patriot started to make their move toward the goal. Then from seemingly nowhere, Brett Hanton knocked down a pass and picked up the ground ball. With the ball cradled in the webbing of his long pole, Hanton sprinted down the middle of the field where the defense converged on him giving him a passing lane to an open attack. With a flip of his wrist, Hanton tossed a controlled pass to an awaiting Patrick Ruffolo. Ruffolo did not hesitate as he secured the pass, pivoted toward goal and shot a low line drive toward goal. The Patriot goalie got a stick on the ball however the ball eventually landed in goal with 2.2 seconds to play to give Madison a 14-13 lead. On the ensuing face off, and after 10 lead changes and 9 ties, all DeFreitas needed to do was hold his clamp for two seconds before the Warhawks stormed the field with their first boys’ lacrosse region championship since 2013.

Madison (17-2) moves on to the VHSL Class 6 State Tournament. Madison will host W.T. Woodson in the quarterfinal match up on Friday night at Bradford Stadium. Patriot also moves on to the state tournament and will face Region C Champion Robinson High School this weekend.