Lacrosse – Jinks’ OT Goal Delivers Southern the South Jersey Group IV Title

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STAFFORD — Old Bridge did the unthinkable in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV semifinals when it held Southern’s scoring machine, Dylan Jinks, without a single point. His teammates had his back in that game, rallying in the fourth quarter to thrust the Rams into the sectional final.

On Saturday morning on Emmert Field, Jinks returned the favor with a redeeming and clutch performance.

With the South Jersey Group IV title game between top-seeded Southern and third-seeded Lenape in sudden-victory overtime, Jinks blasted a shot from the left side past Indians goalie Manny D’Allesio 1:03 into the extra session, giving the Rams an 11-10 victory and their second straight South Jersey Group IV championship. Two days after being held scoreless for the first time all season, Jinks scored five times and assisted on four other goals to return Southern to the Group IV title game.

“Dylan did not play well the last game and he got shut out, and he took it as a personal mission he was not going to be denied today,” said Southern head coach John Pampalone. "He showed today he’s a special player.”

“I was a little upset off the Old Bridge game,” Jinks, who now has 92 goals this season, said after the game. “I like scoring goals, but it’s not all about me. All that matters is we get the victory. As a team, we don’t have a quitting mentality.”

Southern (20-2) will play Westfield, which defeated Bridgewater-Raritan, 10-5, to win the North Jersey Group IV title, on Wednesday at Somerville High School for the NJSIAA Group IV championship.

After scoring three unanswered goals to take a 10-9 lead into the fourth quarter, Southern held that advantage into the latter stages of the fourth quarter. But with 3:39 left in regulation, Lenape netted the equalizer on Andrew Streilein’s third of the game. Lenape had one final possession in the fourth quarter, but Southern junior goalie Brendan Lefanto made a body save along the left post to send the game into overtime.

“My heart was racing a mile a minute,” Jinks said. “When he made that save I knew going into overtime we had a great chance.”

Senior face-off specialist Billy Dowd and his 77 percent efficiency have been a huge weapon for Southern’s high-powered offense. His clean win and goal directly off a draw late in the third quarter gave Southern a 10-9 lead, and he once again secured a crucial possession in overtime. On this one, he needed some help, though. After winning the ball back into his own end, Dowd and his teammates scrambled for the ground ball. Eventually junior midfielder Shawn McManus came out of the pack with the ball, and Southern immediately called timeout.

Southern’s strategy was simple: take the first quality chance that presented itself. After a successful clear into the offensive end, the Rams set up for the game-winner. They worked the ball around twice before Mullen settled it behind the net. He sent a pass ahead to Jinks on the left side of the box and the junior did what had already done four times on Saturday and countless times throughout his career. HIs rocket of a shot beat D’Allesio up high and set off the celebration.

“I saw the pole was a little slow closing out, and I had a couple of goals like that already,” Jinks said. “I was going to try to wrap it around the defender and get something going. It hit the back of the net and it was the greatest feeling ever.”

“We just wanted the best shot we could get,” Pampalone said. “At times we tried to slow it down because (Lenape’s) offensive possessions were so long and our defense was getting a little tired. But in overtime, we said the first good shot, we’re going to take it. Great players make great shots, and Dylan Jinks is a great player.”

In winning their second straight sectional title, the Rams also exacted some revenge on Lenape (14-8) for an 8-6 defeat in the season-opener for both teams.

“It was lurking every single second since we stepped off the field after that loss,” Jinks said. “We hoped we saw them in an important game, and it turned out that way.”

“Losing 13 seniors off last year’s team, we came into the Lenape game in the beginning of the season not knowing what kind of team we were,” Mullen said. “We came in today knowing we were going to beat them.”

Saturday’s victory for Southern came differently than all of its season’s biggest prior wins. The Rams didn’t have to mount a fourth-quarter rally as they did in wins over CBA, Barnegat and Old Bridge, and it wasn’t a blowout like most of their other wins. The score was tight from the start with neither team holding more than a two-goal edge the entire game. Jinks got the scoring started at 9:56 of the first quarter with a blast from the top of the box, but Scott Fayan dodged and scored to tie the score at one exactly two minutes later.

At 7:08, Jinks found Mullen with a pass to the middle of the box, and the senior finished to give Southern a 2-1 lead. Brandon Sweder knotted the score at two for Lenape when he curled around the net and scored at 3:16, but Jinks helped forge the go-ahead goal when he picked up a ground ball near the midfield line and found Nick Simonelli on the crease for a goal with 33 seconds left in the first quarter.

Andrew Streilein tied it for Lenape at 8:23 of the second quarter, but Southern then scored twice to take a 5-3 lead. Jinks fed Simonelli for a goal directly off the ensuing Dowd face-off win at 8:15, then Jinks scored with another long-distance howitzer at 5:50. Lenape would rally, however, with a pair of goals from Connor Wolfe and a go-ahead tally by Justin Holl in a span of 1:56 to take a 6-5 lead at halftime.

“They way (Lenape) runs its offense we were having trouble getting the matchups we needed,” Pampalone. “The middies had to step up and play both sides of the ball. We challenged them at halftime and they stepped up to the challenge.”

Brunetti pushed the Indians’ lead to 7-5 when he finished off a great pass from Tim Montgomery at 8:00 of the third, but Southern answered when McManus squeaked one past D’Allesio on the short side at 6:56, and Jinks whipped another outside shot into the upper corner at 5:32.

The back-and-forth battle continued with Lenape re-taking the lead, 9-7, on goals by Streilein and Brunetti at 4:36 and 3:44, respectively. Jinks pulled Southern to 9-8 with his fourth goal, again by sending a missile past D’Allesio. With 1:05 left in the third, Jinks froze the Lenape defense by faking a shot from high in the box, then feeding senior Brian Dunphey at the crease for an easy equalizer. Dowd gave the Rams the lead by winning the face-off and going in uncontested with 51 seconds left.

“My coaches were telling me they weren’t going to slide to me, and most of the year I couldn’t shoot because of my (injured) ankle,” Dowd said. “The scouting report on the goal was he’s not good low, so I put it low and hoped it went in.”

“He took a nice shot in the beginning of the game and the goalie made a nice save,” Jinks said. “We knew if he got that opportunity again he was going to bury it.”

Now the Rams will try to take the next step as a program in the Group IV final, and they’ll have to do it against the best 11-9 team in the state. Westfield has played a grueling schedule and is a top-20 team in New Jersey. The Blue Devils have won their last five games, including victories over Watchung Hills, Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan in the postseason. Southern knows the kind of challenge it will be up against on Wednesday.

“We’ve challenged this program by looking at the better programs and modeling ourselves after them,” Pampalone said. “Now hopefully we go up to North Jersey and play with them and put South Jersey on the map a little bit. They’re great programs, and we’re going to go out there and compete. One day, hopefully Wednesday, we’ll beat them.”

Box Score

1-Southern 11, 3-Lenape 10 (OT)

Lenape (14-8) 2 4 3 1 0 - 10

Southern (20-2) 3 2 5 0 1 - 11

GOALS - L: Andrew Streilein 3, Connor Wolfe 2, Anthony Brunetti 2, Brandon Sweder, Justin Holi, Scott Fayan; S: Dylan Jinks 5, Nick Simonelli 2, Brendan Mullen, Shawn McManus, Billy Dowd, Brian Dunphey.

ASSISTS - L: Brooks Long 2, Tim Montgomery 2, Anthony Brunetti, Andrew Streilein; S: Dylan Jinks 4, Shawn McManus 2, Brendan Mullen.

SAVES - L: Manny D’Allesio 11; S: Brendan Lefanto 12.

SHOTS: Lenape, 36-34.