By Andy Walter

CAMDEN — Steven Grossman saw the defender rushing at him, so he held onto the ball and ducked under him.

Now, with a clear alley to the goal, the Caesar Rodney High junior attack let it rip.

The shot went over the St. Andrew’s goalie’s shoulder and found the net, sending his teammates rushing onto the field to celebrate No. 6 CR’s memorable 11-10 overtime victory over the No. 11 Cardinals in the DIAA boys’ lacrosse state tournament Tuesday night.

“It was the best feeling in my life,” said Grossman. “At first, you don’t even know. And then it hits you. You did it for all your guys and everyone is around you.”

Grossman’s game-winner gave the Riders (10-6) their first lead since they tallied the contest’s first goal. In between, CR trailed by as much as 9-4 and then 10-7 with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.

In the moment, the fact that the Riders will now probably have to face No. 3 Sanford in Saturday’s quarterfinals was secondary.

For much of the second half on Tuesday, it didn’t look like CR would be playing anybody else this season.

“It’s a credit to our kids,” said Riders coach Brooks Johnson. “We put them through a gauntlet of a schedule and they were prepared for this moment. I’m so happy for them.”

St. Andrew’s (11-5), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped, netted three of the last four goals of the first half to take a 5-3 lead into intermission.

The Cardinals then started the third quarter on a 4-1 run to open up their 9-4 advantage.

The Riders went on a three-goal spree to get within 9-7 going into the fourth quarter. But when St. Andrew’s got one goal back early in the final quarter, the Cardinals looked like they might be in control.

Finally, though, Patrick Craig came up with a steal, drove on goal and dished the ball over to Brendan Wark for a goal with 3:26 left. Less than a minute later, freshman Ian Betts fired home a long-range shot that made it 10-9 with 2:41 remaining.

St. Andrew’s gained possession on the ensuing faceoff and starting running down the clock. A Cardinal turnover, however, with 1:27 left gave CR a chance to set up a play.

Freshman Julius Timmons delivered the tying goal, driving down the middle of the field and firing home a shot that made it 10-10 with 44.7 seconds remaining.

St. Andrew’s did get off one last shot at the end of regulation. But sophomore goalie Dylan Bennett made the save to send the game to overtime.

In OT, CR kept possession for the entire 1:05 before Timmons got the ball to Grossman for the deciding shot.

After starting the season 1-4, the young Riders have now won nine of their last 11 games.

“This is a memory that they’re going to carry with them for a long time,” said Johnson. “It was a heck of a game. I give all the credit in the world to St. Andrew’s. They have a heck of a program.

“I’m just very proud of our guys and our coaching staff.”

“Everyone fought their hardest and that goes a long way,” said Grossman. “It’s the type of team that CR is. We fight, we never quit. It pays off — as it showed in this game.

“We talked amongst each other. We found our fight, we found our heart. There’s no quit in any of our guys. We go hard to the last whistle.”

Sanford faces Middletown in its first-round tournament on Wednesday. If the Warriors win, CR will have take on a squad it just lost to, 14-0, to end the regular season.

The Riders, though, will worry about that when the time comes.
“I’ve never been more excited to say we’ve got practice tomorrow,” said Grossman.

Notes

Craig (2 assists), Grossman, Parker Smith and Wark all scored twice for the Riders. ... The two programs were meeting for the first time since 2013. ... Bennett made five saves.

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 741-8227 or walter@iniusa.org
Follow on Twitter @DSNSports.