| 2010 NCHSAA State Championship Game |
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| Myers Park downs Apex 15-11 Mustangs win first NCHSAA lacrosse championship |
| Myers Park | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | --15 |
| Apex | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | --11 |
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Posted May 15, 2010, 11:30 p.m. Lacrosse analysts who were expecting the Myers Park Mustangs to succumb to the same jitters that have affected other teams who were playing in the state championship game for the first time were proven wrong on Saturday, May 15, 2010, as the team from Charlotte came out smoking and defeated Apex 15-11 to win the first NCHSAA state title.
Two more Mustang goals over the next three minutes put Myers Park up 4-1 with 1:55 left in the first period. Alec Boyle scored the first of those at 4:09 on an assist from Quintana, and Whiteside scored on a Boyle assist at 1:55. Apex answered before the first-period buzzer when Whitehead scored again with 55 seconds remaining in the period to make it 4-2 Myers Park at the break. The second period began with Charlie Pontiakos getting one of his 19 faceoff wins and rushing toward to goal to feed William Lowe for a score only 6 seconds into the period, giving Myers Park a 5-2 lead. Again the Mustangs followed with two straight goals, one unassisted by Craig Passenant, who was named the game MVP, at 11:20, and another by Reid Foley on a Robey Hammer assist at 8:20, and suddenly the Mustangs were up 7-2. After an Apex timeout, the Cougars went to an empty-net defense and doubled the ball, causing a turnover. Apex goalie Emil Weiss got the ground ball and went coast to coast, scoring unassisted at the other end at 7:40, pulling the Cougars to within four goals, 7-3. That seemed to fire the Cougars up, but they couldn't capitalize on their enthusiasm as Myers Park dominated possession over the next few minutes. At 3:32 Passenant scored unassisted to make it 8-3. As the second period was coming to an end, Apex scored with 37 seconds remaining to make it 8-4 as Whitehead scored on an assist from Luke Sieber. But, as they did all during the game, Myers Park had an answer. Pontiakos won the faceoff, passed to Boyle, who assisted Lowe on the Mustangs' ninth goal, putting Apex down 9-4 at the halftime break. In the second half, the Mustangs began where they left off in the first, scoring at 10:12 as Whiteside waltzed in from behind the net untouched to put one past Weiss, making it 10-4. Apex answered at 9:53 as Michael Pittelli scored on a Whitehead assist to cut the lead to 10-5. But Myers Park answered again with two unanswered. Passenant scored on a Ben Barnes assist that trickled by the Apex keeper at 8:46, and then Passenant scored again at 8:00 on an assist from Boyle to make it 12-5. The Cougars mounted a brief comeback in the final four minutes of the period, reeling off three straight goals. Pittelli scored on a Curtis Holmes assist a 3:55, Pittelli scored again on a Tyler Kazazian assist at 1:42, and Whitehead scored unassisted at 1:24, and suddenly Apex was within four goals, 12-4, having been down seven just a few minutes earlier. But the Mustangs found a way to break the momentum, as they did all afternoon, by scoring with 37 seconds remaining in the third period to push the score to 13-8 on Lowe's unassisted goal. Apex scored first in the final period as an unassisted goal by Alex Vanderhoff made it 13-9 at the 9:20 mark. Myers Park's Hammer made it 14-9 with an unassisted goal at 8:55. The next seven minutes were scoreless as each goalie made numerous saves and the defenses hung tough. But Apex scored at the 2:30 mark to pull to within four when Vanderhoff's unassisted goal made it 14-10. A little over a minute later the Cougars cut the lead to three when Sieber scored on a Pittelli assist to make it 14-11. The Mustangs managed to keep possession the rest of the way, seeming to just run time off within the box, even with an open net presenting itself several times. But with 8.8 seconds remaining and a completely empty net tempting him, Passenant couldn't resist putting the coup de grace into the net, giving the Mustangs a 15-11 win and their first state lacrosse championship. At halftime, the winners of the two Tony Cullen scholarships were announced. Jacob Erickson of Ragsdale, who will attend Lenoir-Rhyne, was one winner, and Graham Kawula of East Chapel Hill, who will attend Queens University of Charlotte, was the other beneficiary of a $1,000 Cullen scholarship. These awards go to players who are attending college in North Carolina and who will play varsity lacrosse. All-State and All-American winners traditionally have been announced at the championship game, but not this time. Apparently they have not been chosen, which is why they do not appear in this story. They will be added when they are received. |
