The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The Long Beach Poly boys’ lacrosse team has their eyes set on a Moore League title run, and the Jackrabbits got a massive win on Thursday when Zack Delviccio scored a game-winning goal in overtime to beat Wilson 6-5.
“Going into this game it was just ‘Beat Wilson’,” Delviccio said. “Just give it everything we got and stay together. I’m a relatively new guy (on the team), but everyone was getting hype before the game and it doesn’t matter what sport it is, you got to go balls to the wall against Wilson.”
That early hype served Poly well and led to goals from Riley Melnick and Nathan Friedman. With some shifty ball movement late in the quarter, Mason Peterson delivered two last-minute goals to give Poly a 4-0 lead after the first.
That momentum carried Poly through a slow second period, but Wilson started to get things going after Ivan Van Divort scored with two minutes remaining in the first half to make it 4-1 at halftime.
Wilson’s offensive pressure picked up in the second half as the Bruins worked through counters to set up their offense. The Bruins got goals from Dylan Danell and Jaxon Danell to cut the Poly lead to 5-3 heading to the fourth quarter.
“I think it took them seeing the Jackrabbits with that level of intensity for us to get that intensity in the second half,” Wilson coach Warren Wright said. “So, I think it’s a good lesson learned.”
While the Wilson offense started to heat up, the Bruins’ defense and goaltender Ryan Bruce were frustrating the Jackrabbits.
That tenacious defense proved to be exactly what Wilson needed as Dylan Danell scored twice in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Dylan scored a game-high three goals in the contest.
In the final overtime period, Wilson overcame a 3-man disadvantage due to penalties at the regulation, but Delviccio’s game-winning goal was just enough to push the Jackrabbits to the win.
In goal for Poly was Zeth Gonzalez who withstood the Wilson’s onslaught long enough to help Poly get the win.
“We’ve lost to this team the last few years,” Gonzalez said. “But we’re trying to make a statement this year.”
