Avon Grove knocks off Bishop Shanahan in lacrosse

With Bishop Shanahan staging a furious comeback and Avon Grove hemorrhaging what once seemed an insurmountable lead, Avon Grove senior Beau Kush had control on his mind and the ball in his stick.

Kush, an attacker headed to North Carolina next year, recaptured momentum for the Red Devils with a righthanded rip from about 10 yards out early in the fourth quarter, and sparked Avon Grove to a 9-5 Ches-Mont League triumph in lacrosse.

"As a senior, you want to take control of the game," Kush said. "You don't want to do too much, but you definitely want to step up as an older leader."

That is especially true since as a junior that leader was forced to sit out against the rival Eagles because of a season-ending knee injury.

Tuesday afternoon, however, an injury to fellow senior Bryce Reid forced the Red Devils to regroup.

"We have 36 players on our roster," said Avon Grove coach Eric Jackson, "and we believe in all of them. If somebody gets hurt, it's next man up. Beau is a great player, but we have a lot of great players in the program. That's one of our strengths; we're pretty deep."

Zack Augustine matched Kush with a team-best two goals apiece. Goaltender Andrew Spencer stopped 12 shots. For the Eagles, Ryan Smith scored a team-high three goals.

The Red Devils (12-1) fell behind, 1-0, after the first quarter, but responded with a 7-1 run that yielded a 7-2 edge at halftime.

The Eagles (11-2) clawed back with three straight goals to end the third frame trailing 7-5.

Kush, however, stole the show with a well-placed shot with 11 minutes, 3 seconds left after a nice feed from Brendan Harman.

"That's a play we run in practice," Kush said. "The first look wasn't there, but we kept with it, stayed focused and Doug Jones set a perfect pick, and I got a perfect feed [from Harman] right into my stick, and I just finished it."

Last year, his season was finished before it started. An ACL injury, which he said required 11 months of physical therapy, forced Kush to miss the entire season, including the rivalry game against Shanahan.

"As an athlete," he said, "you always want to be out there, but I couldn't rush things," he said.

"This was awesome," he added. "Last year, I was on the sidelines watching with the boys. It's awesome to be back for one last go around for the seniors and for the younger guys, too."

Avon Grove 0 7 0 2 9

Bishop Shanahan 1 1 3 0 5

AG: Robert Amanto, Jake Smith, Doug Jones, Beau Kush 2, Zack Augustine 2, Brayden Peck, Brendan Harman.

BS: Ryan Smith 3, Alex Wagner, Sam Goforth.

Saves: AG-Andrew Spencer 12; BS-Jason Yoquinto 6.

@AceCarterINQ