Boys Lacrosse: Bridgewatar-Raritan crowned North Group IV champs

BRIDGEWATER - In the midst of a winning streak that stretches back to last year's undefeated season, the 2016 Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys lacrosse team doesn't want to be the one to end it.

Despite trailing 2-0 early in the first quarter, the top-seeded Panthers rallied for a 10-6 victory over No. 7 Westfield to win their second-straight NJSIAA North Group IV sectional title, and extended their winning streak to an astounding 41-straight games.

"We just take it one game at a time, every day we come out to practice and we're ready to play," Bridgewater-Raritan's Ryan Kaden said. "We're competing every day at practice and we're competing in that next game, we want to just take every game like it could be our last, so we're out here playing as hard as we can every step of the way."

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On Saturday, Bridgewater-Raritan exacted a little revenge, as it had lost to Westfield 10-5 in the sectional final two years ago. It was the second year in a row that the Panthers beat the Blue Devils for the sectional title.

"We rely on coaching and we rely on leadership, we have a lot of seniors here and they've been through it all," Bridgewater-Raritan's Nick Grill said. "We've been through last year, two years ago as well, so really leadership and coach gets us ready for this. We have situations in practice that really get us ready and I couldn't be happier."

Westfield (11-9) opened on back-to-back goals from Jake Wornow and Devon McLane to take a 2-0 lead with 8:35 remaining in the first. In the final four minutes of the quarter Bridgewater-Raritan (18-0) answered back on goals from Brian Kolen and Sean MacKinney for a 2-2 game after one.

The Panthers then scored three goals in the second quarter en route to a 5-2 lead at halftime.

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"It's very nice, it's very humbling as well, playing a great like Westfield, you know they're going to bring it and they brought it to us with two goals right off the bat," Grill said. "We knew they were going to come out, we just had to weather the storm in the beginning, we started playing our way, and our way in the heat is pretty tough to stop, and we started getting it done."

Kaden started the scoring for Bridgewater-Raritan in the third quarter for a 6-2 lead, and the Panthers kept rolling as Kolen scored twice and MacKinney chipped in a goal for a 9-2 advantage with 41 seconds to play.

Brandon Leuthold scored on an assist from James Bohlinger with 28 seconds left in the quarter to cut the lead to 9-3, and it sparked the Blue Devils in the fourth.

Bohlinger scored twice to open the final frame and pulled Westfield to within 9-5 with 8:05 remaining. Less than a minute later Blake Taylor scored to get within three, 9-6.

"I think we just had to buckle down, we knew that they would come back eventually, but we knew that we had to be ready and keep fighting throughout the whole game," Kaden said.

Bridgewater-Raritan buckled down its defense in the final seven minutes, and with 5:23 left to play Ethan Locker put the nail in the coffin for the 10-6 final.

"It's awesome, a win against such a good team like this is always a great feeling," Kaden said. "They played their hearts out and I don't think either team left anything on the field today and it just showed that we were ready to get the win."

Joe Lenskold kept the offense rolling as he won 10-of-19 faceoffs for the Panthers. Jack Cash won nine for Westfield, including seven in the second half.

The Panthers will face Montgomery in the Group IV final on Wednesday. It will be the second meeting of the season for the two teams, as Bridgewater-Raritan pulled out a narrow 8-7 victory over the Cougars back on April 27. Montgomery defeated No. 2 Lenape 15-13 in the South Group IV final on Saturday.

"It's going to be a battle but I think we're ready for it," Kaden said of facing Montgomery. "We came out firing today in this heat, we have a few days of practice coming up and we'll be ready for it."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego

Bridgewater-Raritan 10, Westfield 6

GOALS: (BR) Kolen 4, S. MacKinney 2, Locker, Kelly, Kaden, Attanasio; (W) Bohlinger 2, Leuthold, McLane, Taylor, Wornow; ASSISTS: (BR) E. Christensen 2, Kaden, S. MacKinney; (W) Bohlinger, McIlroy, McLane, Wornow; SAVES: (BR) O'Neil 7; (W) Burgdorf 9.