South senior scores four in key Bianchi win
By: Justin Feil
Since switching to attack when he began high school, Jason Tosches has developed a big shot.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys’ lacrosse team is hoping that more importantly the senior attackman can continue to develop into a big shot in its biggest games.
"One of the big things for him is we need him to step up in big games," said Pirates head coach Kerry Weigner. "Last year, he scored a lot of goals for us, but they weren’t in a lot of big games. In a lot of the big games, he didn’t score or scored one goal. We need three goals or more against good teams. So far this year, he’s been delivering."
Tosches delivered four much-needed goals as the Pirates beat Hun, 10-9, Friday before another four less-important goals helped them improve to 5-1 with a 16-1 win over Ewing on Saturday.
"Definitely in the big games you want to step it up," said Tosches, who leads the Pirates with 19 goals. "Overall, comparing this year and last year, I wanted to step it up. I want to play a bigger part in our team’s wins."
The senior, who will continue his career at Moravian College, is off to a good start and his strong play has helped the Pirates knock off two of its traditionally toughest opponents, Princeton High and Hun, in a week.
"After beating Hun and Princeton, who are two of the top teams in the area, it definitely got us some confidence going into the middle of the season," Tosches said. "We can ride that to the end.
"We’re getting a ton of looks and it just comes to finishing. Coach always talks about make the effort and then capitalizing."
Against Hun, South capitalized early to take a 3-0 lead. But Hun responded by taking a 5-4 halftime lead and stretching it to 7-4 in the third quarter.
"There are two things you can do," Weigner said. "We could be like the PDS game and feel sorry for ourselves and we got into an even deeper hole. We were down five goals. This one, we continued to play and made a little run. We dug in and dug in. We chipped away and chipped away and chipped away. The kids hung in there."
And unlike in their one-goal loss to PDS in which the Pirates didn’t turn it on until the fourth quarter, they kept themselves in it to respond by taking a 10-8 lead before a late Hun goal made it interesting.
"I don’t think it was going to be the same case," Tosches said comparing the Hun and PDS endings. "None of us liked how it felt after PDS. We knew there would be ups and downs. We knew we’d have to keep playing hard. And eventually we were able to pull it out."
Things get no easier as the Pirates play at 6-1 Voorhees today and at 7-1 Montgomery High in another week. Those are big games in which Tosches hopes he can also deliver as he continues to develop into a big-game big shot.
"I’m definitely working on all aspects of playing attack," he said. "Last year, I was just playing the crease basically. Now I’m at all the positions this year. I’ve been improving pretty much everywhere."
The Pirates would like to see that continue through the end of the season. Tosches is part of an offense that has some serious firepower.
"He’s got a very good shot," Weigner said. "He has a strong shot when he puts it on cage. We’ve been working on some things with him to get him to be able to catch and shoot quicker. And we’ve been working on him moving the ball faster and getting squared up to shoot faster. Hopefully that will start paying off."
Hun was impressed in their only game against WW-P South. The defending Bianchi Division champions found a little different Pirates group than in the past.
"They’re big and aggressive," said Hun head coach Eric Kemp whose team slipped to 4-3. "I think they’re one of the best Bianchi teams that I’ve seen in my three years here in terms of their size and athletic ability. And they have a lot of seniors."
In comparison, the Raiders had the look of a smaller, younger team. Hun, which was coming off back-to-back wins, is showing signs of moving in the right direction.
"The concepts that we’ve been running on offense over the years have developed," Kemp said. "We’re running some mixes on defense like we have. From a team development standpoint, the fact we’ve had some continuity over the years has helped the younger kids develop. Kids like John Gray, a sophomore defenseman, Colin Rosenblum another sophomore who’s been excellent on attack, and the development of Trey Geier, our goalie who’s a sophomore, has been nice to see. All three played JV last year and they’re coming along."
They’re learning to play with a group of returning athletes that has Kemp optimistic that the Raiders can take something out of Friday’s loss as they host East Brunswick today.
"We’ve looked at the tape where we lost and try to use the losing as a teaching point to enhance their consistency and their performance," Kemp said. "And we use it to show them as another example that the league is so equal. What it comes down to is learning how to win one more game. That gets down to your ability to be consistent and execute. That’s where we’re just not strong. We’re just a little immature right now. You try to use that to drive home the emotion of how hard you have to play and how consistent you have to be."
That consistency is something that even the most veteran of players have to keep in mind. Jason Tosches has shown the ability to be a big-time scorer. WW-P South is hoping he continues to show it in the big games, when the Pirates need it most.
"This is my last year," Tosches said. "You want to step it up. You don’t want to leave with any regrets, like you should have played harder. You just have to play hard every game."