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Crestwood ambushes Scranton Prep in convincing win

Joby Fawcett, The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·4 min read

Apr. 8—SCRANTON — Crestwood's one-two punch delivered a knockout.

Trey Zabroski scored five goals and had seven assists and Chandler O'Farrell fired in five goals to lead the Comets to a 21-3 win over Scranton Prep on Wednesday in a Wyoming Valley Conference boys lacrosse match at Loyola Field.

"I told my teammates yesterday at practice that the game started at 2 when it actually started at 5:30, because at 2 it's time to get your mind ready and half the lacrosse game is being confident and being ready," Zabroski said. "I told the guys to come in here prepared and they did.

"We executed very well."

The last time the two teams met was in the District 2 Class 2A final. That was in 2019 and both programs look much different after a year away from competition because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Crestwood showed that it is a powerful program.

In addition to Zabroski and O'Farrell, Noah Schultz and Nick Curry each scored three goals and Brendan Dennis added two goals for the Comets, who fired on all cylinders from the outset of the game and continued its fast start to the season.

Crestwood (4-0) won its first three games by a combined score of 79-7.

"This is an incredible Crestwood team," Scranton Prep coach Mark Kozlowski said. "They are good every year and they are really good again this year. Our guys got stung early and I think going into that big deficit in the first quarter is tough to dig out of. We struggled on groundballs, we struggled on face-offs, we struggled on clears. If we don't turn around that aspect soon, we could really find ourselves in a hole.

"It's early being only our second game of the year. We could see Crestwood again in the playoffs, I am sure."

Scranton Prep got on the board first when Mike McGrath found the back of the cage. From there, though, Zabroski and the Comets went on the attack.

Crestwood scored nine goals in the first quarter. Zabroski had four and assisted on three others, O'Farrell scored two, Chase Pugh, Schultz and Curry scored the others.

"We were able to come out and finish," Zabroski said. "If you are able to get out to a fast start it puts a lot of pressure on the defense and I really think we were able to do that well."

The onslaught continued as O'Farrell got things going in the second and the lead swelled to 12-1 at 6:11. Schultz and Zabroski also scored.

Scranton Prep (1-1) got back on the board on a goal by Robbie Watkins, but Crestwood finished with goals from Dennis and Schultz to close the half with a 14-2 advantage.

Crestwood, which held a big advantage in face-offs won with Jimmy Hawley leading the way, made them count with sharp execution on offense in the second half. Curry scored two straight goals, Dennis had one and O'Farrell had two in the final 4 minutes as the Comets piled up a 19-2 lead. Zabroski had three assists in the quarter.

Chase Stephens scored Scranton Prep's final goal off an assist from Watkins early in the fourth. But, Crestwood answered as Michael Zaleski and Logan Rolles finished off the victory.

"Once you have control of the game, we like to slow down and take over," O'Farrell said. "We came out and punched first and they couldn't hit back and we kept going and going and never let up. We lost a lot of players from two years ago, but we have come together after not playing for a whole year."

Crestwood (4-0) 9 5 5 2 — 21

Scranton Prep (1-1) 1 1 0 1 — 3

CRE: Goals: Trey Zabroski 5, Chandler O'Farrell 5, Noah Schultz 3, Nick Curry 3, Brendan Dennis 2, Chase Pugh, Michael Zaleski, Logan Rolles. Assists: Zabroski 7, Dennis, O'Farrell, Pugh, Zaleski.

SP: Goals: Mike McGrath, Robbie Watkins, Chase Stephens. Assists: Watkins, Stephens.

Girls lacrosse

On Tuesday, Pittston Area fell 20-7 to North Pocono.

Emily Rinaldi registered a hat trick for the Patriots, while Morgan Hilbert added two goals. Mia Marriggi and Tyra Winters rounded out the scoring for Pittston Area, and goalie Racehl Deleo saved six.

Kendra Jordan paced the Trojans with eight goals, while Carena Colo added six and Ava Laboranti scored five. Gwen Powell finished the scoring for North Pocono, while goalie Liz Nemitz registered seven saves.

North Pocono

Pittston Area

PA Goals — Emily Rinaldi 3, Morgan Hilbert 2, Mia Marriggi, Tyra Winters. Assists — Rinaldi, Hilbert, Olivia Hogan, Jianna Eike. Saves — Rachel Deleo 6. NP Goals — Kendra Jordan 8, Carena Colo 6, Ava Laboranti 5, Gwen Powell. Assists — Colo. Saves — Liz Nemitz 7.

Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on Twitter