Defensive LAX Battle Earns Ridge Boys Tournament of Champions Win

The NJSIAA Boys Lacrosse final Tournament of Champions final pitted two teams, Ridge and Don Bosco Prep, neither of which had never been to the big game before. Both teams got to this game by gutsy, relentless defense and sharp as nails offense. The game delivered all the hype and may have been one of the finest high school games played in 2013.

Ridge had always preached team defense that helped drive the offense. And the ever present weapon of the control of the faceoff. Today they gave their best performances of the year, and quite possibly the only way they would beat a terrific Don Bosco team.

"Alec (Burckley) is one of the keys to this program," said Ridge coach Ken Marsh. "He wins the ball, he is a warrior. He plays offense, he does so many things for us. And the constant possessions are huge. He dominated the faceoffs today."

Out of the gate, Eric Scott put Ridge on the board with the first of four goals on the day.  Scott, NJ Player of the Year, is a four year varsity starter headed to Yale in the fall to play lacrosse.  

"Eric (Scott) just had to play his game," Marsh said. "When Eric is able to play his game, what he does, some days the points fall for him, some days they don't.   And today they did."

But Don Bosco would not be held back for too long and Marc Buermann would score his first of two goals for the Ironmen. As the two teams settled into their defenses, it would be Don Bosco that would take a 3-2 lead into the half.

Shortly after the second half began, Mitchell Gray carried down field and passed to Connor Lalley who would bury a shot to tie the game. Ridge would get the go-ahead goal from Eric Scott, but just 45 seconds later, Riley O'Sullivan tied the score for Don Bosco. 

Ridge would open the fourth quarter on a tear getting a goal from Scott, followed by a faceoff win and goal from Burckley and a goal from Owen Molloy to give Ridge a three goal lead at 7-4. 

But Don Bosco was not done and put in three goals in a little more than two minutes, the last coming with just 1:14 left in the game.  But during the flourish, Ridge had scored their eighth goal, and closed out the game, 8-7.

"Oh my God, this is amazing," said Alec Burckley who finished winning 12 of 18 faceoffs. "He won some, I won some, I just tried to do what I've done all season and it worked for us. I don't have words to describe it right now."

"It was a great win against a great team," said JT Palladino. "We came out a little bit slow and both sides of the ball.  But we just kept fighting until the end and finished out strong.  That is all that matters.  It was a great game, it is a great feeling."

"It feels great to finally get that win in the TOC for the boys," said Alex Gaydos.  "We came out a little slow, and we knew they could come back at any time.  We kept our poise and we got it done."

"I didn't play well last game and I worked hard this week because I didn't want to have that showing again," said goalie TJ Jones. "I still let three goals in that were 'gimmies' for them, but I played better than I did in the semi-final.  The save on the one-on-one was a momentum turnaround, a stop for them and a start for us. It was 'a pole to a pole', that was what our motto was. We tried to get the defense to do everything for us this year. Our offense fed off our defense the entire year. And we won, we won it all."

"We stuck to our game plan, coach preached that to us all year," said defenseman Brian Mangion. "Just stick to the plan and it is going to pay off and it did.  It feels so great to go out like this.  This is the best group of guys I ever played with.  I am so happy to win it all with them."

"They stuck to the plan," Marsh said. "You don't get many better groups than this.  These kids progressed all season. The two losses in the middle of the season really helped us. We were able to re-focus and play to the end of the season to accumulate this. If that didn't happen, we would not have accumulated this. It helped to keep us hungry."

"I'm speechless," he added. "I started this program 13 years ago. It has been a goal to be the best and it took 13 years.  I am amazed that it happened. There are only five teams that have won the TOC and now we are one of them. To be in the breadth of those other teams is amazing."

Marsh's own parents also were at the event.

"I wanted my son to win," said Joyce Marsh, Ken Marsh's mother. "He's worked so hard and he deserved it. The boys were a wonderful team."

"I am really proud of my son," said Ken Marsh, Sr. "All  those years of nurturing, showing them the basic stick skills, growing them big and tough, keeping them in shape.  He is a great guy and I am so proud of him, so proud. I couldn't be happier.  My number one son."

The team also won the Somerset County championship this season for the first time ever.

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