Jahelka, Berkery lead Garden City to Class B crown

Steve Jahelka got it right: Make Brandon Mangan go left.

Most times, that's easier said than done, as Jahelka, Garden City's Harvard-bound junior defensive ace, learned the last time he faced Wantagh's Yale-bound senior attack. "We know that he's a great player. He had four [goals] and one [assist] against us last time," Jahelka said of Mangan's performance in the Warriors' 10-9 double-overtime victory on April 23. "I knew he was righty, so I sat on his right hand."

Jahelka's one-on-one lockdown of Nassau County's leading scorer was a key reason Garden City rolled over Wantagh, 13-4, Wednesday in the Nassau Class B boys lacrosse championship game played at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium.

The other key was a spectacularly dominant first 13 minutes. The Trojans led 4-0 after the first quarter and added a man-up goal 14 seconds into the second quarter. "Our offense fired up the defense," said Jahelka, whose stickwork and footwork prevented Mangan and the rest of Wantagh's potent offense from ever making a run. Mangan, who entered the game with 63 goals and 103 points, scored his only goal halfway through the fourth quarter. It was 10-2 at the time. He added his only assist with 1:18 left. It was 12-3.

"He got Round One," Jahelka said of Mangan. "I had him for the most part today, and our poles and defensive middies took their other guys out of the game. There's pride in winning a one-on-one battle, but this was team defense."

It was team offense, too, as eight different Garden City players scored goals, led by sophomore middie Patric Berkery, who scored four goals. His first, a rocket with 48 seconds left in the first quarter, made it 4-0. Rob Savage and Kyle Hughes each scored two goals and the faceoff tandem of Jared Mitchell and Connor Horl won 17 of 20, which also slowed Wantagh down.

"They have an amazing offense and to hold them to zero goals in the first quarter was awesome," Berkery said. "We switched our strategy a little bit and held the ball. It worked out great."

SEE PHOTOSGarden City 13, Wantagh 4

Wantagh scored two goals in 1:13 to make it 5-2 in the second quarter and Garden City coach Steve Finnell started to worry - until Tom Gordon took a neat pass from another Harvard-bound defenseman, Brian Fischer, and scored with 1:30 left before halftime to make it 6-2. "If they made it 5-3, it's a whole new ballgame," Finnell said.

Instead, neither Wantagh nor Mangan recovered from being blanked in the first quarter. "That period was as good as it gets," Finnell said.