Tigers boys lax outplay Timon in second half
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Stefan Henn has been a part of many great moments since beginning the Amherst Central boys lacrosse program in 1994. His lacrosse teams have won six Section VI titles (1996, 2001-05) and appeared in four New York State semifinals (2002-04, 2006).

Henn added one more moment to his resume last Thursday.

Ahead 6-5 at halftime against Bishop Timon-St. Jude, the Tigers (4-2) dominated play in the second half en route to an 11-6 non-league home victory. It was Amherst's first win in three tries over Timon.

"The way we played in the second half was one of the proudest moments in my 17-plus years at Amherst in any sport that I have coached," said Henn. "We told them at halftime that we needed to let go and get physical. We did that in the second half and the overall tone of the game flipped our way. Every time there was a ground ball, there were three to four white jerseys all over the place. They were making plays. It was a great effort by all 22 kids."

Amherst outgroundballed Timon, 50-24.

Junior Sean Smith and sophomore Brian Lawson combined to win 12 of 21 faceoffs. Henn also lauded the wing play of Tim Monahan and Jordan Davis.

Amherst also was good on man-up (5 of 7) and man-down (5 of 6) opportunities.

"We were a really tough team to beat that night," said Henn.

Henn said Kurt Ebsary was all over the field with three goals and three assists. Senior Casey Rich added two goals and four assists. Eric Felgemacher, starting for Brent Doerflein, stepped up with four goals and two assists.

Goalie Matt Allwes made 12 saves.

If Amherst didn't play physical against Timon, it wouldn't have been for a lack of motivation by Henn and his coaching staff.

"We went out behind the school for an hour on Wednesday and it turned into a mini-camp drill for ground balls," said Henn. "It was an old school practice, no X's and O's at all."

Henn held the practice as a result of his team getting beat up by a bigger Frontier squad in an 11-9 road loss on April 8. Henn said his team was up 9-8 with four minutes remaining but got pushed around and was careless with the ball which led to plays by Frontier. Frontier's Aaron Ward scored to break the tie.

Amherst was outgroundballed, 53-40.

Lawson (goal, three assists), Dan Cooper (goal, two assists) and Doerflein (two goals) led the Amherst offense. Allwes made 12 saves.

Amherst returns to action at noon on Saturday when they host Rochester powerhouse Webster-Schroeder. The Tigers open league play at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23 when they host Grand Island.