Panthers Edge Bronxville to Capture Their First Sectional Title

The Pleasantville boys’ lacrosse team has been knocking on the door for a sectional championship the past three years. Last Thursday afternoon, the Panthers stopped knocking and just barged in.

With Josh Della Puca and Brian Reda scoring three goals apiece and goalie Oscar Marchi making 17 big saves, the Panthers outlasted four-time defending champion Bronxville 9-7 in the Class C title game and gained a huge amount of retribution after losing to the Broncos in the finals the past two seasons.

“I’m speechless right now,” said Della Puca moments after Pleasantville had clinched its first-ever sectional championship by prevailing in a dramatic fourth quarter on the turf at White Plains High School. “A lot of thoughts are just mushed into my brain right now, so I don’t know what to think.”

It was Della Puca who, only moments earlier, had the ball in his possession behind the Broncos’ cage in the final 30 seconds as the Panthers tried to run out the clock while clinging to a precarious one-goal edge. He wound up passing the ball in front to Reda for the game-clinching shot into an empty net with just five seconds remaining.

“They were not gonna let this game get away from them,” said Panthers coach Chris Kear, still dripping wet after his jubilant players poured Gatorade on him upon putting at least a one-year halt to the recent Bronxville dynasty. “We have kids who have a lot of experience now who are back from last year. And they were hungry. So they brought everything they had today.”

The Panthers, now 18-1 this season and headed for Saturday afternoon’s state regional final at Lakeland High School, scored four goals in succession in the first half, building a 4-1 advantage nearly three minutes into the second quarter. Della Puca had two of the goals, including one with just a couple of seconds left in the opening period.

But Bronxville, the defending state champion, kept the Panthers off the scoreboard for the remaining nine minutes of the half and bounced back to score three straight goals that left the two teams deadlocked at 4-4 at intermission.

“We knew that it was gonna be a game of runs,” said Kear. “We figured they were gonna get a few, then we’d get a few and then they get a few. We just tried to keep our composure and just make sure we got good possessions, won a few face-offs and didn’t throw the ball away too much. We just knew they’re a great team, so we had to play smart.”

The Broncos, who had tied the game on Michael Crawford’s first of two goals with only 2.4 seconds remaining in the first half, took a 5-4 lead almost two minutes into the third quarter when Gerry Frost found an open Robby Westerfield in front of the crease for a point-blank shot that Marchi had no chance to stop.

Pleasantville finally ended its 19-minute scoring drought after Marchi turned aside a backhand try from Henry Grass, Section One’s all-time leading scorer, who wound up pointless thanks to the smothering defense of the Panthers’ Jack Drillock. Marchi quickly got the ball to Declan McDermott up the left sideline. The freshman middie then passed to Della Puca, who sent a missile of a shot into the back of the net for his 100^th career goal, tying the game at 5-5 with 2:22 left in the third quarter.

“I wasn’t even thinking of it,” said Della Puca about his milestone goal. “One of my friends actually told me in the school today I have 97 goals. I was like, ‘Oh.’ And I completely forgot about it. When I scored, I heard someone over there, like, ‘That’s his 100^th.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’”

But Bronxville answered with another goal from Crawford just 39 seconds later and took a 6-5 lead into the final quarter, which was about to provide the large Panther student cheering section with more ups and downs than a ride on a roller coaster.

Just 25 seconds into the final quarter, Pleasantville, taking advantage of a Bronco turnover, got even on a fast break that featured lightning-quick passing from McDermott to Bryan Arcidiacono and then to Reda across the crease for a shot into the wide-open net. A little more than a minute later, Drillock, in one of the rare moments he wasn’t shadowing Grass, picked up a loose ball at the offensive end and rifled a shot past goalie James Swartz that gave the Panthers the lead for good.

Another Bronxville turnover led to a goal from Baylor Rosenbaum with 8:38 remaining that stretched the P’ville lead to 8-6. The Broncos, who had lost at home during the regular season to the Panthers by two goals, again responded, this time getting a goal from Frost to slice their deficit to 8-7 with almost eight minutes still to go.

Both teams threatened over the next few minutes as Arcidiacono and Della Puca were both stopped on shots in front of the cage, while the Broncos’ Crawford and Frost each had shots carom off the goal pipe. With the game in the balance and under a minute to play, a pass by Grass across the crease was knocked down by Dante Bolla and scooped up by Marchi, who sent the ball up the field to McDermott.

The Panthers called a timeout with 32.4 seconds left on the clock. With a one-goal lead and their first championship in their grasp, Della Puca played keep away behind the Broncos’ cage before finally dishing to the freshman Reda in the last few seconds for the empty-net goal that put an end to Bronxville’s long reign.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Kear, who won a pair of sectional titles while playing for John Jay. “I feel so happy for those guys because they earned it. We told them for weeks and weeks that it is the best feeling. I’ve done it as a player and I know what it feels like. I just couldn’t wait for them to experience it.”

Della Puca, who had started the Panthers’ 16-3 semifinal demolition of Nanuet with a goal 90 seconds after the opening faceoff two days earlier, also ended up with three assists against the Broncos and earned the game’s offensive most valuable player award.

“I never thought we were gonna lose this game,” he said, asked if the Broncos’ comeback from a three-goal deficit had worried him. “I knew all the guys on our team really wanted this one. And we got it.”

While Della Puca collected the offensive MVP plaque, it was Marchi who was named the defensive most valuable player.

“He’s been phenomenal all season long,” said Kear of his senior goalie. “We knew we were gonna get some great stops from him. He fills up the cage nicely. He’s an experienced athlete and we just knew with him back there, we always have a chance.”

If anyone had told Marchi a couple of years ago that he would be at the center of the Panthers’ first-ever lacrosse championship, he’d have had a hard time believing it.

“To be the first team in school history to win the section title is just incredible,” he said. “I can’t even describe the feeling right now. It was very nerve racking, to be honest. I mean, I’ve never played in such a big game and to be the starting goalie in the section final after nobody knows you at the start of the year, it’s just incredible.”