Above – Granite Porcher on a fly-by in front of Joey Dobrowolksi- All photos courtesy of Ginger Carter Both Lake Brantley and Hagerty came out on Tuesday night with a plan.  Both plans looked to be similar.  Zone defense, control the ball, and keep the pace down.

Hagerty was successful in the first half, Brantley was not.  Hagerty controlled the ball from the opening face off.  Turned it over briefly, but as Lake Branltey did most of the first half, they gave it right back. 1:57 into the game Ketih Smellie put Hagerty on the board and the Patriots were down 1-0 and had not been on offense yet. Connor Knaresboro won the next face off and ran a fast break that nearly put Hagerty up 2-0 but his shot was just wide.  Lake Brantley got the ball back briefly but spent the possession mostly trying to get the ball off the ground and keep it.  They just could not seem to find the handle early and Hagerty had the ball again.  The third Hagerty shot was once again a near miss.  Joey Dobrowolski made a nice save but the rebound was left spinning near the goal line.  Just before it found it’s way into the goal Will McKenna snatched it out but the Patriots would  turn it over once again on the clear. Granite Porcher got a couple of shots on the next possession but again they went wide.  For most of the first quarter it was Hagerty moving the ball with little pressure on them.  Hiram Carter was the only real bright spot for Brantley throughout he first 7:00 of the game, as he would find his opportunities and force turnovers only to see the ball come right back to his end of the field.

Finally an EMO opportunity gave the Patriots a chance to settle down and move the ball on offense.  At 5:39 remaining in the first quarter Ryan Crowley took the first shot of the game for Brantley and made it count as he tied it up at one each.  But the Patriots would not have a meaningful possession again until the final minute of the quarter when a good possession ended with a solid save by Bronson Reano.  The Huskies cleared the ball and got it down to Connor Knaresboro who made a nice question mark dodge from just below the goal line extended to make it 2-1 with just :17 left in the first. By the time the first quarter was over Hagerty had earned ten shots resulting in two goals and four saves by Dobrowolski compared to three Lake Brantley shots.  The Patriots turned the ball over four times, all unforced, but had managed four take aways as well.  The difference was the patience shown by Hagerty as they really worked the ball and used great off ball movement to absolutely dominate the time of possession in the first quarter.  We did not keep accurate stats on T.O.P. but suffice it to say that outside of the EMO and the 1:00 possession near the end of the quarter it was all Hagerty. Hagerty won the face off  to start the second quarter and possessed it for the first two minutes and earned a shot.  But they eventually turn it over on an unforced error and came away empty handed.   Lake Brantley clearly was focused on controlling the ball this quarter and got the ball with 10:00

remaining and 1:02 later Bernhardt scored with a nice high to low shot that finished in the far corner to tie it up at two each. LB won the ensuing face off but turned it over.  The next few minutes continued more of the same.  Hagerty would possess, earn some shots, but eventually turn it over.  Lake Brantley would push a little bit but could not seem to hold onto the ball.  Although the game was tied, Hagerty was clearly in control.  With 6:27 left in the half the ball control finally paid off and Chris Carpenter found Jacob Collins to give Hagerty the lead again at 3-2. Both teams continued to have trouble with turnovers.  By half time Hagerty would have turned it over seven times and Lake Brantley nine.  Lake Brantley just could not get the ball and keep it, nor could they catch a break in the first half.   Hagerty continued with long possessions.  Finally, LB knocked down a pass but during the scramble for control of the ball a Brantley player was called for pushing and the ball went right back to the Huskies.  Finally at 2:14 remaining in the half Evin Code made a beautiful cut from the top and Knaresboro  hit him with a perfect feed.  Code killed it in the top right corner. Hagerty then won the F/O and another long patient possession ended with a  Jacob Collins goal on the inside roll to make it 5-2. By the time the first half ended it was clear some things were going to need to change if Lake Brantley was going to get back in this.  LB had only two settled offensive possessions in the first half and only one shot in the second quarter which was not on goal.  Hagerty had won 7 of 9 face offs and had outshot the Patriots 17 to 4.  The good news for the Patriots was that even playing a zone defense they had forced several turnovers and they had two goals on two possessions and were shooting at a solid 50%. Hagerty had earned quality shot opportunities on virtually every possession.  Often times getting multiple shots.  Although many were not on cage the law of averages was clearly in their favor.  They were finding plenty of soft spots in the zone defense and were able to pick it apart with north-south feeds. Hiram Carter came out to take the opening face off of the second half and won on a procedure call.  Things looked more promising as LB was able to get a good solid possession and get the ball to Bernhardt for a great shot that resulted in a great save. It was clear that Brantley was going to work to get the ball into the hands of their playmakers. Hagerty got the rebound and cleared the ball but they did not find the zone defense this time, they found a ton of pressure that resulted in a take away and another Bernhardt shot off the post in transition.   The tempo suddenly increased about ten-fold. The Patriots started pushing the issue at both ends of the field and Hagerty packed it into a zone defense to which Branltley responded. With 7:33 left in the third Crowley picked up a rebound a put it in the goal to make it 5-3.  Carter won the next face off and got a shot, rebound, and suddenly a flurry of of shots by several Lake Brantley players.  After several saves Bronson looked to clear the ball but could not find an open man.  He had to carry the ball up and as he past the restraining line Bernhardt was able to strip the ball and gain possession.  Looking like a seasoned veteran he resisted to urge to hurry the shot into the open net and instead closed the distance and took the easy shot to bring LB to within one goal. Brantley kept up the pressure and the pace. Clearly the second half plan was to have less plan and more chances to athletes to make plays and it was beginning to pay off.  Trey Fink picked up a loose ball deep in LB’s end of the field and hit AJ Monte in stride at the midfield line.  He found Crowley who scored on a blistering shot to tie it up at 5 each with 5:11 left in the third. Lake Brantley was playing like a new team and forced a Hagerty time out.  The Huskies were able to settle down and made it clear they were not going easily after Kevin Collin scored to get the lead back at 6-5 with 4:20 left. Carter got the ball back for the Patriots off the face off and Austin Guerrina came alive and dodge across the top to his left and hit a perfect bounce shot over the shoulder of Reano to close tie it back up.  He did it again on an EMO at 2:44 left in the third with a low bouncer through the five hole for his second goal and the first lead of the day for Lake Brantley. Then things really got crazy. Knaresboro came right back off the next face off, winning the ball, fast break and taking the shot himself to tie it back up.  Hiram Carter did the exact same thing for LB on the next face off to get the lead back. It was 6-6 with 2:44 left in the quarter and then with 2:19 remaking it was 8-7! Quite a pace. With :38 left in the third Coach Ayad called a time out with possession in the offensive end, looking to at least stop the bleeding and come out of the third all tied up.  But it backfires as Will McKenna disrupted the play, caused a turnover, and took ti down field to Crowley who finished and gave Lake Brantley at two goal lead with :06 in the third. The fastest pace, most exciting quarter of lacrosse we have seen this season! Lake Brantley really picked up the pace getting off 16 shots that quarter and only turning it over three times.  Despite the pressure Hagerty still got two goals off of four shots but suffered 8 turnovers and lost the advantage at the face off X. Connor Knaresboro served notice on the opening face off of the fourth that Lake Branltey was going to have to fight to the end as he takes it down on the fast break and scores again.  His second off the face off in under three minutes of play.  It remained a 9-8 game for some time through the fourth quarter.  Lake Brantley slowed down and in fact, with just over 5:00 minutes left in the fourth they were still looking for their first shot of the quarter.  Hagerty really cranked up the pressure on the ride, taking away the transition that had hurt them in the third quarter. Although Brantley could not get the offense going well again in the fourth, their defense  prevented Hagerty from setting up the cuts and feeds like that did in the first half.  Eventually, Austin Guerrina would score his hat trick on yet another bounce shot to give LB a two goal lead with 3:26 left in the game.  He then scored his fourth to finish it with only :22 left on the clock. Lake Brantley will host Lake Highland Prep in the next round.  LHP beat Boone 16-1 on Tuesday. My take aways from this game; Hiram Carter is a big time player.  He is a difference maker to be sure and should have a good career at Navy. Conner Knaresboro finished off a good, solid high school career in style.  He had a fantastic game and made sure his team went down swinging. Lake Brantley made some nice adjustments at the half, most importantly allowing their very athletic defenders to pressure more and use their speed to keep Hagerty on their heels in transition. That was a fantastic game.