Chaminade 5 - DeSmet 4

In the most exciting game I have ever been a part of, the Chaminade Red Devils upset the DeSmet Spartans 5-4.

CCP's Senior Michael Kubik started the scoring and really put the heat on DeSmet from the beginning. DeSmet's sophomore Andrew Schonhoff responded for the Spartans with 24 second remaining in the first to tie the game at 1-1. The second quarter was all CCP as Jake Entwistle, Jack Benage (on a 5M!) and Jack Meara all knotted goals. In typical Jake fashion, he got pissed off and decided to go into set and make something happen. Danny Faust set the ball and Jake tried a couple moves but wasn't awarded a foul. He looked around to see if anyone was driving, but they were all telling him to shoot, so Jake shrugged off his defender and barred in a lob to the far corner. We were celebrating the goal and rolling on the ground laughing at the same time. Another DeSmet sophomore, Matt Stiponovich, ended the Red Devil scoring streak with a unstoppable bullet to the near corner (un-savable in my mind) and we went into the second half up 4-2.

Halftime was not all smiles as the Red Devils were clearly still intense and focused and were disappointed by the DeSmet goals and some missed opportunities of our own. There was also a certain junior I told to cheer up who then told me he was "scared to death". I think sophomore Kevin Glauber felt the tension and started one of the most memorable moments of the night. The back story is that we created a team CD, where everyone chose a song and everyone on the team had a copy of the CD, including me. Senior Blake Stabler chose Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" for his song. I found it odd that Blake chose a song that is older than he is and is the anthem for every girl I ever met in college, but it was perfect. During a treading drill in practice, at the halfway point, the boys would sing the chorus..."whoa, we're halfway there, whoa-oh living on a prayer"...and I thought it was hilarious. Well as we were huddling up to get ready for the second half, Kevin sang the first couple notes..."whoa, we're halfway there"...and the rest of us, whether out of habit or sheer spontaneity or as a stress release finished off the chorus..."Whoa-oh! Living on a prayer! Take my hand, we'll make it I swear! Whoa-oh! Living on a prayer!" It was the ultimate team moment and I will never forget it.

Well, the second half wasn't as productive offensively as the first, with only one goal coming from Jack Benage two minutes into the third, but it didn't need to be as our defense was stifling and Blake's goaltending was amazing. The game plan was to play a drop-zone to prevent weak side passes and keep the ball out of the middle of the goal so the Spartans would be forced to take outside shots and beat Blake from the perimeter. Every time we played DeSmet up to this point, they would get the ball down on the left wing and drive someone hard to the right (usually Junior Danny Holtgrewe) and make cross-goal passes and score back-door. The plan hinged on Blake playing a great game, and he rose to the challenge making 14 saves. A couple of coaches who came to watch put it, "He stopped everything."

The zone worked all day except for a one minute span where Danny Holtgrewe got free for two goals. In principle, Danny scored the type of goals our defense was designed to prevent, but DeSmet took a play our of our playbook and ran flat-wing picks to get Danny open weak-side and he capitalized on two goals in the third to bring the score to 5-4. But we adjusted, and for the first time all season, we learned from a mistake and shut that play down. The defense was perfect from that point forward and despite some scares, including a 5M shot, 4 man-advantages, and some point-blank opportunities, the defense held and we pulled out a last second victory.

Overall, it was the one of the best games we had played all season and it was by far the most gratifying. We beat a team that we had played close all season and we executed the game plan when it counted. Our offense was aggressive early and our defense was near-perfect. I am very proud of the way we played and we accomplished our goal of making it to the state finals.

Goals: Benage - 2, Entwistle - 1, Kubik - 1, Meara - 1
Assists: Benage - 2, Faust - 1, Kubik - 1
Steals: Faust - 3, Kubik - 3, Benage - 2, Watkins - 2, Arnold - 1, Entwistle -1, Fernandez -1, Stabler - 1
Kickouts: Entwistle - 3 (first time all season anyone has gotten red-flagged), Kubik -1, and one unrecorded for the 5M

Player of the Game: Stabler - 14 saves on 18 shots, 1 steal and "stopping everything".