The foreboding, soot-gray clouds rolling over Follis Field in Wooster, Ohio seemed to portend a dark fate for the Saint Ignatius prep lacrosse team on Wednesday evening.
The Wildcats outscored the Dublin Coffman Shamrocks in the first, second, and third quarters as the sun splashed Wooster High School with light and the Lax Cats with happy tidings. The men of Ohio City carried a comfortable 14-9 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
But the mood changed abruptly as ominous clouds swiftly rolled towards the State Semifinal battleground. As Mother Nature awoke with a fury, hurling winds and hard, if not steady, rain upon fans and players, the Rocks arose from a slumber to thoroughly scare the Wildcats.
Coffman scored six goals in the fourth quarter to send the contest into overtime at 15. But with the season on the brink, the Cats did not panic.
Anthony Ameo won the opening faceoff of OT, firing a shot over the net. Michael Boehm then went to work on the resulting possession. Starting on the far-side hash mark at the 30-yard line, Boehm worked towards the center of the field. Seeing Boehm come past his defender, Coffman's low-side defender slid to stop Boehm. The Wildcats' smart sophomore saw Merick Hartley come open as a result on the near-side 15-yard line hash.
Boehm tossed a quick pass to the Holy Trinity grad. Hartley took to a second to load up before rocketing a shot to the high left side of the net, beating the desperate sliding defender and the goalie.
Ballgame. Wildcats win, 16-15.
The Lax Cats celebrated with the joy of Andy Dusfrene, freed from the jaws of defeat and a death sentence for the 2018 season.
“It’s indescribable, probably the greatest feeling I have ever had in my life,” Hartley told Cleveland.com. “When the other team draws a side and you get to bury it like that, it’s awesome."
Hartley and the Lax Cats will chase more indescribably joyful feelings on Saturday. The Ohio City warriors will face the men of Cincinnati – the St. Xavier Bombers – in the State Championship at Ohio Wesleyan University at 7 pm.
In a fashion quite unlike last Friday's Regional Final, the Saint Ignatius offense roared at the start of the State Semifinal. The Rocks and Cats traded jabs to start the contest. Coffman opened the scoring at 10:28 before Bain Kurtz responded at 9:28.
The Rocks tallied a goal at 8:10 before Noah Catanzarite and Max Maruna found twine off wonderful passes from Nate Conry. Playing against a zone much of the quarter, the Cats relied on the midfielders to create offense, and they certainly did.
Coffman also found openings, snagging a 4-3 lead on back-to-back goals midway through the quarter. The Lax Cats then ripped back-to-back-to-back goals to one-up the Rocks. Michael Boehm, Maruna, and Chris Larsen did the honors, enjoying a particularly fun time with the bounce shot. Coffman scored at 1:17 of the first, but Hartley completed the quarter with a missile and the 7-5 lead.
The sophomore scored his second of the day early in the second quarter, rolling from the far side to the edge of the slot. With a swift motion, Hartley fired the ball into the back of the net while absorbing a hit. Connor Cmiel and Catanzarite scored beautiful goals to seemingly place the Wildcats in full control at 10-5. But a pair of Coffman goals with less than a minute left in the quarter kept them within striking distance.
The Shamrocks kept the momentum going into the start of the quarter with two goals at 7:47 and 6:00 of the stanza. With the Cats clinging to a 10-9 lead, Head Coach Gary Cintron called a timeout and gave the team a fiery speech, expressing the idea that the season was on the line and only they could keep it going.
Once again, Hartley stepped to the fore. In his office, on the left side of the crease much like Alexander Ovechkin, the attacker buried a beautiful goal following a nice pass from Noah Catanzarite at X.
Anthony Ameo followed up just 9 seconds later with a faceoff win and goal. Michael Boehm kept it rolling with a tally off a Catanzarite assist. Ian Flynn completed the scoring with 1:09 left in the third, setting the score at 14-9 entering the fourth.
The fourth quarter was an excruciating one for the Wildcats. Coffman scored twice to start the quarter, narrowing the deficit to 14-11. Hartley then scored again at 5:05 as a dark storm edged into the picture. But due to the Wildcats' inability to clear the ball and hang onto a possession for very long, the Rocks persisted and erupted for four goals in the final 5 minutes. Kyle Katigbak fired a shot on net in the final seconds of regulation, but overtime was the result.
Fans of both sides then sweated it out in the break between the fourth quarter and overtime, and then in the extra time, until Hartley delivered a happy ending to an otherwise scary final minutes of action.
“We just came out and said Ameo is going to get us the ball,” Cintron told Cleveland.com. “We need to get it in the right hands. Get it to Mike Boehm, get it up to Merick and try to get it in and it worked.”
The Wildcats will vie for their first ever state title on Saturday against the Bombers. A full preview of the game will be posted on Friday.