CARY –Gannon Morrison had a hat trick to help lift Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons past Waxhaw Marvin Ridge 11-8 on Saturday afternoon in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's state men's 1-A/2-A/3-A lacrosse championship at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Morrison’s three goals pushed his team-leading total for the season to 57. Nick Forbes had two goals and two assists for the winners while Robbie Lavelle and freshman Charles Van Dyke also had two goals apiece.
Gibbons finally opened up a three-goal lead in the third quarter, with Van Dyke getting his second goal of the game with 3:09 to go in the period to put the Crusaders on top 8-5, but the Mavericks tallied in the final second of the third to make it 8-6.
Marvin Ridge senior goalkeeper Reilly McDermott, who will continue his career at Furman University, made several spectacular saves in the closely contested first half, which ended in a 4-4 deadlock. In fact, McDermott had a whopping 19 saves on the day and was named the Most Valuable Player of the championship.
Junior attackman Jared Blum scored three of the Mavericks’ four goals in the first 24 minutes.
Gibbons ended the season with a perfect 22-0 record and has been in the playoffs in every year the NCHSAA has had lacrosse. The Crusaders have a postseason record of 13-4 all-time and made their second trip to the championship, losing to Lake Norman 9-8 in the 2012 open classification final. Marvin Ridge wound up 18-2 and had a 13-game winning streak snapped.
This was the first year in the five-year history of NCHSAA men’s lacrosse playoffs that there have been classified championships, with a separate 4-A final and then the 1-A/2-A/3-A championship.
NCHSAA STATE 1-A/2-A/3-A MEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP
WAKEMED SOCCER PARK, CARY
Marvin Ridge 2 2 2 2– 8
Cardinal Gibbons 2 2 4 3–11
