By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The dynamic offense of the Montgomery High boys lacrosse team was on display on Wednesday in the Cougars’ 14-3 win over Freehold Township in the South Jersey Group IV tournament semifinals., Nico Ipeker led the way with four goals as seven different Cougars scored in the win. Joe Mercurio scored three goals, while Christian Boyle and Jared Reinsen each added a pair of goals in the win., “It’s great,” Mercurio said of the Cougars’ offense. “Everybody moves the ball well. None of us are selfish. We all try to move it to the next man. We know everybody is going to get their points so we try to move the ball and get it to the open guy. Coach tries to tell us to get the best shot every time.”, With the win, the top-seeded Cougars advanced to face second-seeded Lenape in the sectional final on Saturday. Montgomery rallied to beat Lenape in the sectional final., “Since this is our senior year we have been working extra hard to end on a high note of possibly getting back to the state championship game,” Mercurio said. “Coach (Jon England) has been preaching the last few games to take it to another level. He’s been telling us we’re a good team but we want to be a great team. We have been coming out and taking every team like it is our last game.”, Montgomery, which improved to 15-5 with the win, has a prolific offense that is led by its trio of attackmen who have combined for 168 goals this season. Ipeker has 68 goals, while Kyle Marripodi has 53 goals and Danny Engels has 51 goals to go along with 56 assists., “We know that we are all going to get our points,” said Mercurio, who has 22 goals and 18 assists this season. “We just move the ball. We have a great attack and all the good middies work well together. It’s great when everybody can bury the ball., “We always go at it with our defense. We know we have one of the best defenses in the state. It helps because we know they are going to give us their all every day in practice. So we need do our part on the offensive side.”, The offense has scored 52 goals in three state tournament games this season, while the defense has allowed just 11. The combination of two strong units has made the Cougars a tough team to beat., “Our defense has been playing at a different level,” England said. “The last few games they have limited some much better offenses to two or three goals. That means transition for us. That means our poles moving the ball and getting the ball in the back of the next rather quickly., “And on offense, my three starting attackmen all have at least 80 or 90 points. And our middies, they’re not getting all the points, but they are very good at moving the ball and drawing the slide. That’s our biggest thing. We move the ball very well. And when teams that play us aren’t used to that kind of speed they have a hard time adjusting to it.”, What makes the Cougars such a tough team to defend is the have so many weapons. Engels and Marripodi each had just one goal against Freehold Township, yet the offense was still clicking., “It’s a very selfless group,” England said. “You look at Danny Engels, who has 100 and something points already in the year, he does it so selflessly. He doesn’t want any applause. He doesn’t want any attention. He just likes to go to work and help guys get better.”, That’s the mission for the whole Montgomery team, to just continue to get better and play its best now that tournament time is here., “Jared touched on it a couple of games ago, that we want to end on a high note,” said Mercurio, who plans to play at Ursinus College next year. “This is a great way to go out. I have been playing with these kids since I was in second or third grade so it has been a long time.”, While Montgomery would love to play for a Group IV state title again this year, the Cougars are not about to start looking ahead., “Our focus is Saturday.,” England said. “Last year we were very fortunate to kind of eek that out. We dug ourselves out after putting ourselves in a really bad spot. I know they will be really hungry to try and redeem that. And they are very good. Their faceoff guy is phenomenal. That’s one place we are really worried about Saturday.”
