PIAA Boys Lacrosse: Cumberland Valley 'puts everything out' in 3A quarterfinal loss to Garnet Valley

Throughout their 2022 campaign, the back-to-back Mid-Penn champions were plagued by injuries, including the losses of lockdown defenders Dalton Forsyth, Colin Chizmar and Sam Blacksmith. The Eagles played with a next-man-up mentality as players like Nate Campisi, Luke Gensbigler and Will Crawford — Crawford didn’t pick up a stick until this year — filed into starting roles and exhibited tenacity and courage on CV back line.

For just the second time this season Saturday — while facing District 1 No. 5 seed Garnet Valley at Twin Valley Middle School — the Eagles allowed a double-digit goal total. The offensive attack from the Jaguars, combined with a crawling start offensively for CV, steered Garnet Valley to an 11-5 quarterfinal win and advanced the District 1 representative to Tuesday’s semifinals.

With Saturday’s triumph, the Jaguars return to the semifinal round for the second straight year and the fourth time in program history. Saturday’s quarterfinal appearance was the Eagles’ first since 2018.

“No season comes to an end until there’s no more games to play,” CV head coach Phil Helms said, “so everybody wants to be that last team standing. We know what we’re running into when you run into a team like Garnet Valley. We’ll talk about the positives of today and there’ll be nothing negative to say about this group and our season this year.

“It’s special.”

With the Eagles hampered by offensive struggles to open Saturday’s tilt, the Jaguars took advantage. Garnet Valley (14-6) also failed to connect on passes in the first quarter but broke through at the 7:21 mark with Max Busenkell’s first goal. With the scoreless tie ceased, the Jags started to find their shooting stroke and coaxed in three more scores to take a 4-0 edge at the end of one.

Busenkell, a Notre Dame commit, spotted a team-high five goals for Garnet Valley, including a pair in the opening quarter. He built on his total with another duo in the second quarter and added his fifth and final in the third period.

Meanwhile, Cumberland Valley (19-4) turned the ball over in each of its first five trips down the field and finished with 12 total turnovers. Foul calls also worked against the CV cause, as the Eagles were tagged with five, including an illegal body check in the first quarter and an unnecessary roughness call in the third.

“The one thing that I’ve tried to teach these kids,” Helms said, “is that adversity is going to be put in front of you no matter where it comes from and you have to figure out a way to get around it. Today, we had adversity from the opponent, we had adversity from some calls that may not have gone our way, but I’m not blaming the loss on the officials. I’ll never blame a loss on the officials, and we started very slow today, and we made some mistakes early on.”

Nate Herbster snapped the Eagles’ drought midway through the second quarter and cut the deficit to six at halftime with a 7-1 score. CV went on a two-goal tear out of the break with Herbster pocketing his second goal three minutes in.

Owen McKenize netted the second of the short spurt at the 7:36 mark. McKenzie went on the ride on the left side of the crease and one-timed his shot for the score. Herbster completed his final outing in the red and white with four goals.

“I think coming into states, winning that first round, that gave us the confidence and the knowledge that we’re here for a reason,” Herbster said. “So when they put up six quick goals on us, we knew that we had the ability to come back and all of the younger guys were fighting for us, too. They knew this could be our last game, and it was our last game, but they put everything out there for us.”

Garnet Valley polished off the quarterfinal win with four more goals in the second half. Andrew Goldt and Joey Halloran kicked in a pair each to complement Busenkell’s five. The Jaguars take on District 12 No. 2 Seed St. Joseph’s Prep — a 7-6 winner over Hempfield Saturday — in Tuesday’s semifinals at a site and time to be determined.

The Eagles reflected on their excellent season shortly after Saturday’s defeat.

“This is by far my favorite season at Cumberland Valley,” Herbster said. “I felt like we were an actual team this year. Everybody knew each other super well, we didn’t play games as individuals, we played it for each other. So, that was something to be happy to be part of.”