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Pirates handle the Chapel Hill Tigers 14-9, win third state title (May 19, 2001, NCHSLA tournament final)

The Riverside Pirates broke the NCHSLA state championship game open in the second quarter Saturday against the Chapel Hill Tigers and never looked back. That five-goal period gave them a lead they would never relinquish on their way to win their third state championship by a score of 14-9. Chris Feifs, who learned after the game he had been named a prep All-America player, scored six goals -- four of them in the first half -- to lead the Pirates. Graham Murray added three, Andy DeLamielleure had two, and Laurence Tilley, Owen Ham and Tim Gregory had one each. Tilley also had four assists, while DeLamielleure had two and Kevin Raspet had one. One subtext of the game was the battle between Feifs and Chapel Hill's prep All-America, defenseman Michael Darden. Feifs got the better of the matchup with his six goals, while Darden, who, while making great plays, spent two minutes in the penalty box and saw the game's defensive MVP honors go to Riverside goalie Richard Ladd, who had 11 saves. Riverside took the lead early when, at 10:15 remaining in the first period, Kevin Raspet found Fiefs open, and Feifs put the ball right under the bar for Riverside's first goal. Then, for the next two minutes, Chapel Hill maintained possession, but excellent Riverside defense kept them from getting a shot. The Tigers lost the ball out of bounds and Riverside got it back at 7:36 but lost it themselves. That led to a Tiger fast break that saw Shawn Handy feed Joe Tynan for the tying goal at 7:08. At 6:51 Riverside's Kevin Radack was called for a push, giving Chapel Hill an extra man for 30 seconds. It didn't take long for them to capitalize as Handy scored on a Nick Woods assist at 6:38 to put Chapel Hill up 2-1. The next few minutes saw several bad passes by the Pirates, a crease violation and an illegal procedure by the Tigers, and a step out of bounds by the Pirates, as neither team could get much going. Then, at 4:03, Andy DeLamielleure, working behind the net, found Owen Ham, who had gotten open on a V-cut. Ham shot from the goalie's right side and put the ball between his legs to make it 2-2. The Tigers went up again 3-2 at 3:30 when Jason Merritt scored on another Nick Woods feed, but that was the last time they'd lead the game. At 2:13, Feifs, left alone 15 yards from the goal, let one fly over the goalie's shoulder to make it 3-3, which is how the first quarter ended. Chapel Hill won the opening faceoff in the second quarter. In fact they dramatically improved their faceoffs against the Feifs-Raspet team since the PAC-6 final game. Neither team threatened for the first two minutes of the quarter though. But at 9:46, Tiger goalie Tyler Wilcox made a good save on a Graham Murray shot to preserve the tie. Then, at 9:43, the Tigers were called for their second crease violation, giving Riverside the ball. At 8:25, Laurence Tilley passed to a charging Tim Gregory, who fired and scored from the Tiger goalie's left side, from 20 yards out, to put Riverside up 4-3, a lead they would never relinquish. After a great ride at 6:47 by the Riverside defense the Pirates gained possession and Feifs cranked one that hit pipe, eliciting groans from the Pirate faithful. But at 6:22 he got another chance on a feed from Tilley and he put this one away to make it 5-3 Riverside. Again the Tigers won the faceoff and this time they made it count when Nick Woods scored unassisted at 5:56 to make it 5-4, paying the price for the score by ending up on his back after a Feifs check. That's when the Pirates decided enough was enough. They scored three goals in less than a minute to move to an 8-4 lead. First, at 4:29, Tilley assisted DeLamiellure on a transition goal that was set up by a Kevin Radack takeaway at midfield. That led to three-pass break -- Cory Coffman to Tilley to DeLamielleure. That made it 6-4. Then Feifs won the faceoff and took it all the way to another score at 4:19 to make it 7-4. And, finally, after a Coffman shot rebounded, Graham Murray picked up the loose ball and stuck in a garbage goal at 3:34 to make it 8-4, which was the score as the first half ended. The second half opened like a nightmare for the Pirates. Coffman was called for a trip at 11:48, giving the Tigers a man advantage for a minute, but they couldn't convert. Then Riverside was called for a failure to advance at 10:48, after which David Johnson was called for a hold, giving the Tigers another 30 seconds with a man advantage at 10:11. This one they cashed in, with Shawn Handy scoring unassisted to make it 8-5. Riverside was called for a push after the shot, giving the Tigers the ball without a faceoff. Ladd made a key save at 8:54, and then the Tigers were called for a moving pick, giving Riverside the ball. But the Pirates were called for a hold at 8:20, turning the ball back over to the Tigers. They were called for playing with a free hand at 8:04, though, and the Pirates got the ball back. After a save, the Tiger goalie was called for going back into the crease and Riverside got the ball back at 7:14. Three seconds later, Tilley scored unassisted to make it 9-5. That ignited another Pirate run. At 5:42 the Tigers' Shawn Handy was called for a push and Riverside's extra-man offense came through, with Feifs scoring on a Raspet feed at 5:24 to make it 10-5. Raspet won the ensuing faceoff and another three-pass break -- Raspet to Tilley to Murray -- made the score 11-5. Again Raspet won the faceoff and this time Tilley assisted to DeLamielleure to make it 12-5. At that moment a group of Chapel Hill fans who had been standing for some time in line at the drink machine below the stands came back up the stairs. "What?!" said one of the Tiger fans. "It was 8-5 when we left!" The Tiger drought was broken at 2:43 when Nick Woods hit Handy for another score to make it 12-6. At 2:38, the Tigers' Darden, who would spend two minutes in the penalty box during the game, was called for a push. Riverside couldn't take advantage, though, losing possession to the shorthanded Tigers. That gave Zach Brewer, Riverside's backup goalie, a chance at one of his two saves on the day. He stopped a hard Tiger shot cold at 1:57 while goalie Richard Ladd was playing on the man-up squad. The Tigers closed the gap to 12-7 at :28 remaining in the third quarter when Handy did a nice back-in move to score just before the third period ended. As the final period began, Riverside parents and players must have been remembering the May 3 PAC-6 tournament final game, in which the Tigers roared back in the final period to take a 10-9 win, outscoring Riverside in the final period 5-3. The Pirates had vowed at their Friday practice that it wouldn't happen again. Part of their strategy was to run more middies during the game, giving the first middie line more time to rest than in the other three Chapel Hill games. That way, the thinking went, the Pirate middies would be fresher at the end, and the Tiger surge could be prevented. The strategy worked, with the Pirates winning the two middle quarters by a score of 9-4, and battling the Tigers to a draw in the final quarter. That five-goal edge would be the margin of the game. In the final quarter, Feifs scored unassisted at 11:02 on a round-the-world jaunt that started low on the Tiger goalie's right side, curved out 20 yards and moved back in toward the goal on a power move and a shot the goalie didn't see. That made it 13-7. At 9:32 the Tigers answered when Jason Merritt scored unassisted to make it 13-8. The Tigers won the ensuing faceoff and were frantically taking shots that Ladd was saving acrobatically. At 9:21 he saved a Scott Morris shot. At 8:08 he turned another Morris shot away. At 7:10 he saved a Shawn Handy shot, which kept the margin at 13-8 until, at 5:39 a bizarre goal by Graham Murray made it 14-8. Tilley had passed to Murray, but the ball didn't hit Murray's stick cleanly, bouncing off Murray's chest, then onto the ground, and, finally, rolling oh so slowly between the Tiger goalkeeper's feet for a goal. At 3:54 Darden was called for his fourth penalty of the game on a hold on Graham Murray, but the Pirates couldn't take advantage of the 30-second man-up. It looked like, at 3:34, that Feifs had his seventh goal of the game, but it was waved off due to interference before the shot. The Pirates got the ball back quickly but were called for an offsides at 2:44, giving Chapel Hill at 30-second advantage. But they couldn't make it pay. At 1:12 the Tigers tried a field-long clear, but it was intercepted by a Pirate player and Riverside was content to try to kill the last minute of the clock. But they lost possession and, at :40, Scott Morris scored for the Tigers to make it 14-9, but the game was a lost cause for the Tigers at that point. As the clock ran out on Riverside's third state championship, pent-up emotions were unleashed on the Pirate sideline. Coach Estacio got doused with ice water, players were hugging each other, some with tears in their eyes, and Coach Kirkley was trying to shake every player's hand. The extent of Riverside's mastery in this game can be seen in the ground ball margin (70 for the Pirates, 34 for the Tigers) and in the season-high LBC total for the Riverside defense (48). [Box score] GROUND BALLS: Chris Feifs 14, Kevin Raspet 7, Kevin Radack 7, Cory Coffman 6, Laurence Tilley 6, David Johnson 6, Graham Murray 5, Madison Thompson 4, Andy DeLamielleure, Anthony Howard 3, Richard Ladd 3, Tim Gregory 2, Nick Wallhauser 2, Ned Phillips 1). LBCs: Kevin Radack 9, Kevin Raspet 8, Ned Phillips 6, Nick Wallhauser 6, Cory Coffman 3, Madison Thompson 3, Laurence Tilley 3, David Johnson 3, Chris Feifs 2, Anthony Howard 2, Andy DeLamielleure 2, Tim Gregory 1.

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