May 23, 2018 3 min read

Peters Township pounced on Mt. Lebanon for 10 straight goals and cruised to victory, 17-4, in a WPIAL Class AAA semifinal lacrosse match Wednesday at Moon High School.

With the triumph, the Indians advanced to the finals to defend their title at 3 p.m., Friday, at Robert Morris University’s Joe Walton Stadium.

The Indians’ easy route to the finals, which also included earlier playoff routs against Sewickley Academy, 22-2, and Fox Chapel, 17-5, was in stark contract to last year’s WPIAL run.

“It’s definitely different than last year, where we had one-goal games pretty much the entire time,” said PT coach Mike Kaplan. “This year, it has been a little bit easy for us.”

Motivation made it easy for the Indians against Mt. Lebanon. The Indians beat the Blue Devils in double overtime, 12-11, for last year’s title and they defeated Mt. Lebanon, 14-6, during this year’s regular season showdown. But the semifinal trouncing was inspired by those results and the fact it was a rivalry game.

“Any time we play Lebo, our guys get excited for it,” Kaplan said. “We hyped them up saying Lebo is hungry after what happened last year. They want revenge. Our guys really came to play.”

Indeed, Peters Township reeled off four goals in the first frame then ripped off six scores in the second before Mt. Lebanon found the back of the net with 1:47 remaining in the first half. The Indians strung together four more goals to initiate the Mercy Rule at the 8:16 mark in the third quarter.

“I am really proud of the team effort overall both offensively and defensively,” Kaplan said. “We had a complete effort out of the team. The results speak for themselves.”

Ben Delaney led the attack with two goals and five assists. Danny Bacchiochi registered the hat trick while Aidan Stopperich, Zack Gramling, Aidan McCall and Nick Phelps provided two goals each. Coltan Abate, Mile Vilsack, Dante Mahramas and Jack DeGurian supplied the other goals. Will Delaney, Stopperich and Mahramas notched assists.

Phelps led with four ground balls. He helped anchor the defense, which included Shawn Caven, Zachary Cicacci and Jacob Hurley and Luke Hirata in the nets.

“Nicholas took the majority of our faceoffs and he did a great job with it,” Kaplan said.

“That (defensive) unit really, really played well and kept them out of the back our net most of the game.”

John Sramac prevented the shutout with his goal at the end of the first half. With the score 17-1, Jack Sullivan, Carter Davidson and Tim McMullen scored the final goals of the game for Mt. Lebanon.

In vying for their second straight WPIAL title, the Indians don’t plan to change a thing. They intend to play the same lacrosse regardless of the score.

“We want to play the same lacrosse whether we are up or down. It tends to work out for us,” Kaplan said. “That’s going to be the statement for Friday. Play the same game we have played all season and see if it works out for us.”