Cougars come back on Immaculata; will play Delbarton
By: Justin Feil
FLEMINGTON – The Montgomery High School boys’ lacrosse team was down, 5-0, to Immaculata midway through the second quarter of the Tournament of Champions quarterfinals Monday.
A second-half team all season, MHS bounced back initially with the first five goals of the third quarter before an Immaculata rally regained the lead for the Spartans. MHS continued to fire away and closed with the final five goals of the game for a 14-12 win. With the win, the fourth-seeded Cougars advance to play top-seeded and unbeaten Delbarton 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kean University.
"It’s great. We get to play the No. 4 team in the nation," said MHS tri-captain Steve Watson. "It’ll be a great test."
Watson furnished a goal in the Cougars’ third-quarter run and fed his younger brother, Kevin, on the game-winning and insurance goals to finish off the comeback.
"Last year, we had a ton of connections," said Steve, who is a senior. "This year, we haven’t, but we brought it back in the fourth quarter when we actually needed it."
Added Kevin: "It’s more special when it’s him (who has the assist)."
MHS, which defeated Immaculata, 10-8, in the regular season, trailed, 12-9, with 46 seconds to play in the third quarter Monday. That was nothing after trailing by five goals with 6 minute to play in the second quarter.
"We’re normally only down three or so," said Kevin, who had five assists to go with his pair of goals. "We knew we could do it. We’ve been in that situation so many times before. We finally woke up. Coach pushed us a lot harder and challenged us."
Added MHS head coach Tim Sullivan after improving to 19-3: "I saw it happening. Everybody is looking ahead and not realizing they’re the 14th ranked team, and they’re thinking, we should be able to handle this. Immaculata was on a mission. They had a lot to prove. They were upset they weren’t in the counties. They got upset by Watchung Hills. They really played hard. They came at us all game today. We finally settled down and that’s when it all changed."
MHS took its first lead of the game, 8-7, on Kevin Hover’s second goal of the game. The junior attack finished with four, maybe none of them bigger than his shot from an impossible angle with 23 seconds left in the third quarter. It triggered the final five-goal run.
"All the way into the third quarter, it wasn’t really the start we wanted," the elder Watson said. "It started with Kevin Hover’s goal (just before) the fourth quarter. It turned it all around.
"I guess we’re just good at the bad starts and good finishes. It’s not a good thing to be good at though. Against Delby, we better bring all the firepower from the start."
Delbarton is 20-0 and received a quarterfinals bye. In the other quarterfinal game, third-seeded Hunterdon Central beat sixth-seeded Morris Central, 8-3, Monday. Hunterdon Central plays No. 2 Mountain Lakes 5 p.m. Wednesday at Kean. The winners meet Saturday.
"We were expected to win these other games," said Steve Watson, who will play for Rutgers University next year. "Here, we can just go out and give it everything we’ve got and see what we can do. It’s a great way to leave. This is more than I imagined."
MHS again had a balanced attack on offense. Seven different players scored goals. Greg Ives had three goals. Mike Yetter had two goals. Nick Angrisani and Mark Yetter got in the act with a goal apiece, both off assists from Kevin Watson.
"I was dodging a little more," he said. "That helped me to get other people open."
The Cougars also got three huge saves from James Caruso in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter as they clawed back to tie it, 12-12, on a goal from Hover with 7:58 left. Caruso finished with six saves while Rudy Butler had four in the first half for the Cougars. MHS also fought off two one-minute penalties in the fourth quarter and the attack figured a way to solve Immaculata’s zone defense.
"I saw them relax again like they did against Randolph," Sullivan said. "They started playing the way they’re capable of playing. They really were looking for the pass. They understood where the slides were coming from. And they were putting away the shots."
Added Steve Watson: "Halfway through the third quarter, it hits us that we’re losing. It’s like we flip a switch and we wake up. We try not to do it. We talk about it every single time it happens, but we still manage to do it."
Watson knows full well that the Cougars can’t fall that far behind a talented Delbarton team. He and Yetter understand first-hand what they’re up against Wednesday.
"We played them freshman year back when we were Group II," Watson said. "We were up, 1-0, at the end of the first quarter and they scored 12 straight. Hopefully we’re better at it. Mike actually scored the goal on Alex Hewitt (now the Princeton University starting goalie). We’re looking for a little better outcome this time."
It should help that this time Watson will have his brother on the field. Three years ago, Kevin Watson was playing in his own tournament and only heard about the game. Now, he has the chance to extend the season to the TOC finale for his brother and his senior teammates.
"When he pushes me, there’s a little more motivation," Kevin said. "I definitely feel it for him and the other seniors. They’ve worked all four years.
"I think we just need to go in there and not look at it as Delbarton, but look at it as another team and play our game and just do our best."

