Rumson breaks out in second half to win SCT
Bulldogs top Colts Neck 8-6 in final
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Above, Rumson-Fair Haven's Doug Kennedy passes the ball from his back during Friday night's SCT final against Colts Neck in Toms River. Below left, RFH's Ford Sutphin fires the ball at the Colts Neck net, while below right, the Bulldogs' Rob Galligan applies the defense against Colts Neck's Mike Totaro.

As Doug Kennedy saw it, his Rumson-Fair Haven lacrosse team had two advantages in Friday's Shore Conference Tournament final against Colts Neck.

"Beating Christian Brothers Academy [top seed and defending champion in the semifinal] we had the momentum going in and we had the edge because we've been there before," he said.

The Bulldogs (12-3) would beat Colts Neck, 8-6, at Toms River North High School to claim the SCT title and the top ranking in the Shore. Rumson had lost the 2006 final to CBA and Friday night, were not about to let it happen again.

They had seen Colts Neck (16-2), which had beaten the Bulldogs 4-3 earlier in the season, and making its SCT championship game debut, control play for much of the first half. Defense dominated the two high-scoring teams with Cougar goalie Eric Gasser coming up with some spectacular stops to keep the game 2-2 after two periods. Steve Sutphin and Drew Eastwood scored Rumson's first-half goals.

Rumson and Kennedy, though, would break the game open in the third period, scoring three goals in the span of 2:37 to take a commanding 5-2 lead that the Bulldogs would not relinquish.

"We stuck with our game play," said Kennedy. "We wanted to move the ball around and tire them out. It was a complete offensive effort."

Kennedy broke the 2-2 tie at 8:54 of the third period. That was followed at 7:13 by a score from Owen Eastwood, a wrist shot from 15 yards through traffic.

The back-to-back goals had the Cougars on their heels and Kennedy delivered the knock down at 6:17.

Colts Neck rebounded late in the period on a goal from Dominick Fiore with 1:18 left to narrow the lead to 5-3.

Late goals can provide momentum swings, but Fiore's didn't stick because Ryan Korn answered it with a goal 34 seconds later (44 seconds left in the quarter) and the lead was three again, 6-3.

Kevin Sharkey stretched the lead to 7-3 with 7:49 remaining.

Colts Neck would regroup and score three of the final four goals of the match, but it was a little too late. Korn's goal with 5:52 left made it 8-4 and limited the damage that goals by Chris Tamas and Joe Scott scored late in the game for the Cougars. The Bulldogs had achieved what they set out to do, win the SCT title that got away last spring.

To do that, they had to go through CBA on May 16. It was the Bulldog defense that suffocated the high-scoring Colts in Lincroft, leading to the 5-3 victory over the No. 1 seed and two-time defending champions. Like Colts Neck, CBA had beaten the Bulldogs earlier in the season (10-8) only to have Rumson even the score in the SCT.

The Bulldogs rallied from 2-0 down to win this one with Korn putting the team ahead in the third quarter and Kevin Sharkey delivering the game-winner in the fourth.

Drew Eastwood (two) and Sutphin scored the other goals for the Bulldogs.

It's now onto to the NJSIAA playoffs for the newly crowned SCT champions. The Bulldogs were seeded No. 6 in Group I and hosted No. 11 seed Glen Rock Wednesday. The winner will play tomorrow against the survivor of the No. 3 Chatham/No. 14 Delaware Valley winner.