Westlake Surprises the Broncos in the Class D Title Game

The Westlake boys’ lacrosse program was just getting off the ground right about the time Bronxville started making its annual appearances in Section One championship games.

So when the two schools met last Thursday evening to battle for the first-ever Class D crown, it seemed the Wildcats had about as much chance of winning as, say, David versus Goliath or, a bit more recently, the Jets in Super Bowl III or Villanova when facing mighty Georgetown in 1985 or Buster Douglas in his heavyweight fight with Mike Tyson.

But Westlake was undaunted by the seemingly tall task at hand on the turf at Mahopac High School. The Wildcats exploded for four lightning-quick goals shortly after halftime and turned what had been a surprisingly close contest into a rout. With Michael Leva scoring six goals, Dylan Donnery five more and all-everything junior middie Rob DiNota dominating on face-offs, Westlake rolled to a shockingly one-sided 20-12 victory over the top-seeded, but besieged Broncos.

“I knew we were capable of winning the game,” said Westlake head coach Hunter Burnard shortly after witnessing a second-half eruption from his team. “But I wouldn’t have predicted that we put up 20 goals. You know, we’re a little under the radar, but I think the guys in our huddle knew what we were capable of. We’ve been talking about playing Bronxville in the section championship since December. So we knew this was coming and we were ready for it.”

The Broncos, playing in their seventh consecutive sectional final, jumped ahead 90 seconds into the contest on the first of Alston Tarry’s five goals. But three minutes later, Leva got the second-seeded Wildcats even. When Bronxville grabbed the lead again, it was Leva who answered with another goal half a minute later.

The lead changed hands three times in the first two quarters, but DiNota, who finished with three goals, three assists and two dozen face-off wins, scored with 30 seconds left in the half, providing the Wildcats with a 7-6 advantage they would never lose. As the teams walked off the field at intermission, Bronxville was sullen, the Wildcats giddy.

“We were confident because we had the lead that we could do this, that it was possible and we were in the place we wanted to be,” said Burnard. “So we just came out with a lot of energy in the second half.”

Just 51 seconds into the third quarter, the Wildcats gave Bronxville a quick hint of things to come as Donnery, who along with twin brother Ryan and older brother Kyle wound up combining for nine goals, took a pass from James Gorman and beat goalie James Swartz with a lefty shot. Just 15 seconds later, Ryan Donnery scored to increase the Westlake lead to 9-6.

The Wildcats had a man-up opportunity when Ryan Donnery scored again, getting a pass from Gorman and converting on the right doorstep with 9:17 to go in the quarter. A Gorman goal 42 seconds later stretched the Westlake lead to 11-6 and forced a timeout from the shell-shocked Broncos. Tarry did answer with a pair of third-quarter goals, but as the teams headed to the final 12 minutes Westlake still had a four-goal cushion.

DiNota, named the game’s offensive most valuable player, pointed to the Wildcats’ mindset at halftime as the biggest reason the third quarter changed the course of the evening.

“To us, it wasn’t 7-6,” he said of the Wildcats’ halftime lead. “It was zero to zero. We played like we were down the whole game. We just kept pouring in goals and that’s the reason we won.”

Dylan Donnery scored again early in the fourth quarter before Tarry answered right back for the Broncos two minutes into the period, cutting the Bronxville deficit to 13-9. But the Broncos would get no closer as the Wildcats, winning virtually every face-off, erupted for another four-goal blitz over a five-minute stretch that all but assured they would be the ones facing Section 9 champion James I. O’Neill in the opening round of the state playoffs at Dietz Stadium in Kingston on Wednesday evening.

The first of the four goals came just moments after Westlake goalie Nicholas Ryan, named the game’s defensive most valuable player, made a sparkling save on a shot by Dylan James, then delivered a long outlet pass to DiNota, who raced in and found Leva free on the left doorstep for an easy score.

By the final minutes of the fourth quarter, it seemed the Wildcats were scoring at will against the dejected and fatigued Bronco defense. Leva’s final goal of the night came even as he tumbled to the turf and it gave Westlake an astounding 20-10 advantage with 1:26 left. Bronxville managed to score two window-dressing goals in the waning moments, but soon the Wildcats were sprinting toward Ryan to start the celebration of the team’s first lacrosse championship.

“They’ve been to seven straight championships and people thought it was an advantage,” said Burnard about the vanquished Broncos, who have now had to settle for the runner-up plaque three straight times. “But, to us, I mean, we had the advantage. We were hungry. This is our first time here. We wanted this. We were ready for this.”

DiNota, for one, was not ready to leave Mahopac without a title. He still has no trouble remembering what happened on the same turf as he and his Wildcat football teammates came up short in their bid to repeat as champions back in the fall.

“You know, November 4^th, we came off this field crying and we knew we didn’t want that to happen again,” he said. “So we came out as hard as we can and we gave everything we have. We have no energy left after this game. We just put everything we had into it. And we wanted to bring the first section title ever to our school. It was an amazing feeling and we couldn’t have done it without every single kid on this team, even the JV kids who came up for the playoffs.”

Burnard has been coaching DiNota long enough to know he was going to see the kind of dazzling performance he did against the Broncos.

“Rob DiNota has dominated almost every single game that we’ve played this year,” he said. “He’s very special. He’s the most special athlete I’ve had the opportunity to coach and he always rises up and plays his best in the biggest moments. So kudos to him.”

The Westlake victory may have come as a big shock all around the section, but the Wildcats actually defeated Bronxville in overtime on the road last year and gained quite a bit of confidence from the win.

“There wasn’t much mention of that coming into the game,” said Burnard. “I know we were predicted to lose by six goals. That was just motivation for us. We knew we could do it. I think our victory against them last year at Bronxville was huge for us coming into this game, knowing we’d done it before and we could do it again.”