Lacrosse: Hopewell defeats Pennington in rivalry for The Rock

By Andrew Atwal

For BucksLocalSports.com

In a rivalry featuring two schools that are separated by under a mile, the Hopewell Valley Bulldogs played host to the Pennington Red Raiders on Thursday in a battle for The Rock.

Hopewell staged a second half comeback to reclaim The Rock from Pennington.

Following a 1-1 tie after the first quarter, Pennington poured it on in the second; tallying three scores and shutting out Hopewell to take a 4-1 lead at halftime.

However, the second half was a different story.

The Bulldogs trimmed the lead down to two goals with a beautiful shot by sophomore Pat Ekel. Hopewell would trail by two going into the fourth quarter and hoped to keep the momentum going from Ekel’s goal. However, the Pennington lead could have been even less if not for a few remarkable saves by Red Raiders goalie Joe Alesio.

The first several minutes of the fourth quarter saw an evenly matched affair, but Hopewell took charge during the last five minutes of the game, scoring three times.

With just over four minutes remaining, Chaz Bell carved up Pennington’s defense to cut the Red Raiders lead down to just one goal. And then just a minute later, senior Ryan Mahn tallied his second goal of the game, which tied it back up at four.

When time was running out for the Bulldogs it again was Ekel who threw a shot past Pennington goalie Alesio which proved to be the game winner for Hopewell who finished off the season with an 11-8 record.

After time expired, the joy of victory and the agony of defeat was seen vividly on each teams’ bench.

Pennington players were yelling at underclassmen with one player telling the underclassmen, “I will not lose to Hopewell again next year.”

On the other hand, Bulldog players were in jubilation over the victory. With smiles reigning down on players’ faces, they quickly ran over and got The Rock to put back into Hopewell’s trophy display case.

Pennington was led by Ben Colallio, who scored two goals for the Red Raiders – a team that ended the year at 10-8 overall – winning four straight games going into the contest with the Bulldogs.

In addition to scoring two goals for Hopewell, Mahn recorded an assist as well. Elliot Rose and Kyle Farina also had an assist each for the Bulldogs.

After the game, Pennington coach David Donohue reflected on the loss to Hopewell.

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