Mt. Lebanon wins seventh WPIAL lacrosse title
Winning a seventh WPIAL lacrosse championship was elementary for the Mount Lebanon boys. In edging Shady Side Academy, 12-11, by scoring twice in the final 76 seconds of play, the Blue Devils returned to the basics.
“During our huddle, our offensive coordinator said, ‘hey, let’s keep it simple.’ We didn’t run anything elaborate,” said Lebo head coach Mike Ermer.
“Honestly, we told the guys, if we play like good fourth-graders, picking up ground balls and communicating, we’ll be alright. It’s kind of like fourth-grade plays that we ran. I can’t lie. Sometimes simpler is better.”
With 32 seconds remaining in the game, Max Prezioso simply scored an unassisted goal that turned out to be the game winner. Prezioso scored four goals in the game.
“We just ran a play that our coach assigned us. One we have practiced,” said Prezioso. “We executed perfectly. You want to trust your teammates and that’s exactly what I did and it ended up working out for us.
“We practiced all year long for these types of moments,” Prezioso continued. “The stage wasn’t too big for us. We knew if we stayed calm and trusted each other, then we’d be good.”
Though the Blue Devils came into the championship match seeded No. 1, the Panthers challenged them every minute. Lebo edged ahead, 5-4, after the first frame, 5-4, but the contest was tied, 7-7, at intermission.
Hetz, Prezioso and Garrett Cramer had scored twice in the first half while Keegan Green added a single tally. All goals were unassisted.
A pair of goals by James Rost and a tally by John Poggi propelled Shady Side Academy into the lead, 10-7, with 10:19 left in the fourth quarter.
“They had a really good third quarter,” Ermer said. “So between the quarters, we just brought everybody in, and we just said, listen, we’re playing a little tight. We’ve got to have more fun. Like, enjoy the game. It’s the greatest game in the world, in my opinion. So just play loose and have fun.”
Prezioso continued to have a field day. His hat trick coupled with a goal by Andrew Pinilla narrowed the gap before Lebo waged its final comeback. Cramer ignited the uprising with an unassisted goal with 3:08 to play. Hetz and Prezioso completed the comeback with their unassisted tallies.
“They battled. They worked hard. They had a lot of ground balls,” Ermer said.
“Our defense did a really good job and our offense came around. Being able to finish it off in the final couple minutes was significant. It was great.”
During a rebuilding season, the Blue Devils were able to win their third consecutive WPIAL championship.
“This one feels really good,” Prezioso said. “We lost a lot of key seniors last year so this one was a hard fight. We practiced all year long. It was a tough matchup and we came out on top, which felt good.”
Defensively, Zach Lynam made eight saves for the Blue Devils. Aidan Carlstrom, Ty Praia, Benton Thompson and AJ Hyland also spearheaded the defense. Mason Prettyman led with five ground balls.
Other contributors in the win included starting attack Lukas Bilec as well as substitutes Cole Gibbons, Sam McAuley, Nicholas Zundel, Adam Hetz, Kris Kambitsis, Xavier Bias and Parker Westbrook.
With the win, the Blue Devils advanced to the PIAA tournament. First-round playoff action was scheduled for June 3. The Class 3A state championship match will be played at 5:30 p.m. June 14 at Panzer Stadium on the Penn State University campus.